Thirteen Roses
by Nightronic
Summary: Rated K-plus for minor themes. When fraternal twins Aceline and Todd arrive in their new town, rumors reach their ears of the insanely rich mayor. Desperate to get a share of the money, Todd makes a plan to have the mayor fall in love with him. But what obstacles hasn't he accounted for?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first published Animal Crossing book. First off, this book will contain OCs and will be as PG as I can make it. That means no drugs/alcohol, sex, cussing, and very minimal blood (if anything, the only bloody parts will be if someone falls and gets hurt or something along those lines). It will, however, have references to crime and gambling money away, though these themes will be very tame.**

 **I really hope you enjoy my book. I don't have a set update schedule, so unless I go without internet for a while, I will add chapters as soon as they're written. I promise I won't take forever to write this!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Town Phemera**

* * *

It was a bright, chilly day as a train rumbled down the countryside. Two siblings sat side-by-side, clutching their backpacks. The boy wore a baseball cap over his shaggy black hair, wearing a simple red warm-up jacket and sweatpants. The girl seemed a little more exotic, with long black hair pulled back into a braid, with a single crecent hairclip pinning one side of her bangs back. She adjusted her black-rimmed glasses and tugged at the collar of her prep-school-esque outfit. Neither spoke a word, and neither made eye-contact with any of the other riders in the car.

The girl glanced up as the conductor got on the loudspeaker. "Now nearing Phemera station... Phemera station."

She nudged her brother and the two of them slung their backpacks over their shoulders, staring out the window as the train station came into view. When the train lurched to a stop, they both stood up simultaneously and walked through the car to the front.

The sunlight was warm on their pale faces when they stepped out of the station. The boy inhaled and let out a deep sigh.

"Do you smell that, Ace?" He glanced over at the girl with a grin. "You know what that smells like? It smells like freedom."

"I told you not to call me Ace," she grumbled, taking off her glasses and replacing them with some blue-rimmed ones. "You know how much I hate that nickname."

"I know, I know, because Dad used to call you that," he snickered.

"If you're gonna laugh about it, then I'm gonna start calling you Toddle." She smacked him upside the head, but as she turned away there was a hint of a smile. "C'mon, let's go find the mayor."

They had barely taken two steps when the loud 'pop' of a party popper made them jump. A young lady stepped out from behind a tree, a big, beaming smile on her face.

"Welcome to Phemera!" She cheered, stepping closer. "It's so nice to see new faces. I'm the mayor of this town, Mayor Catelin, but you can just call me Cate!"

The siblings just stared at her for a few seconds.

The boy sighed. "Hey, I'm Todd, and this is my twin sister Aceline."

"Nice to meet you, Todd, Aceline." Catelin held out her hand, but only Aceline took her up and shook it. "Shall I show you around?"

Todd looked at her. He really examined her. Long light-blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, a heart-shaped face framed by straight bangs, and a pep-squad outfit. Meh. Her eyes were a pretty green, but just like the rest of her, he deemed it forgettable.

"Actually," Aceline shot him a look, "we'd love a tour."

"Great!" Catelin seemed happy to take the noirette's hand and lead them. "Follow me."

* * *

The mayor seemed to have a lot of fun showing them around the town, telling them about the best spots for relaxing, all the different fruit trees in town, everyone's favorite coffee shop, and about the different events that would take place in the town plaza over the months.

"Like I already said, you don't need to worry a bit about trying to fill up the museum," she explained. "Don't worry about thinking that you have to contribute. I've taken it upon myself to do all the dirty work, so all you have to do is buy and sell... but you should mostly sell."

"Good information to have." Aceline nodded, staring at the town hall. "So I suppose we should start the moving process?"

"Oh! Yes, sorry." Catelin laughed, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I talk too much. I just get so excited; it's not often that we get new citizens."

"Oh, no, that's totally fine." Todd chimed in. "I would be happy if someone wanted to move in too."

Aceline gave him a look that read "You're-not-convincing" and he stopped talking.

Catelin smiled at the twins and held the door for them. "Go ahead and see Isabelle. I'll let Tom Nook know that you'll be on your way soon."

Aceline gave her a 'thank-you' and Todd watched her run off. He frowned, but hung around as his sister talked to Isabelle.

* * *

"Ta-da!" Todd muttered sarcastically as Nook walked back to his shop. "Sleeping in a tent. We really are living like kings."

"Oh, hush." Aceline snapped, taking out her hair clip. "Cate has already apologized. Every human who comes through here lives in a tent at first."

"Oh, sure, because the mayor is the one voice speaking for everyone." He snorted, rolling his eyes. "How come none of our animal neighbors live like this?"

"I don't know. Maybe there's a bias." The noirette shrugged and placed a bed. "C'mon, set up your bed. We need to get out there and start making money so that we can get more room."

"And actual heating." Todd added, shivering slightly. "How the heck can that raccoon expect us to use a tent in _January_?"

"Tanooki," Aceline corrected.

"That's what Dad called him, that's not what I'm calling him."

"Since when did you even listen to Dad anyway?" She muttered under her breath with a harsh sigh. "Just set up so that we can get to work."

"Yeah, right, whatever." The boy lazily threw the leaf at the floor and instantly a bed grew in its place. Just a simple bed with red covers.

Aceline nodded at the bed and led him outside, where she looked around.

"Okay." She started. "You're pretty lucky that Cate lent us money to buy some tools at the T&T Emporium. If we want to get a head-start on upgrading to an actual house, we'd better get over there now."

"Aw c'mon, Ace, it's almost nine." Todd whined. "Why can't we wait until tomorrow?"

"Because, idiot, I want to spend the least amount of time in this tent that I can." She snapped. "And I said don't call me that."

"Look, if you wanna start picking fruit and catching bugs or whatever, you can do that." He seethed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But I'm gonna do what I do best, and that's placing bets."

"If you wanna make enemies out of all our neighbors and get us kicked out of another town, then go ahead, be my guest." She retorted, pocketing the bag of bells. "But I'm gonna be the responsible older sibling and make a living, something you couldn't do even gambling."

With that, she stormed off towards Main Street.

Todd glared after her and spit on the ground. "Forget this, I'm gonna find someone else."

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the first chapter so far! Please tell me what you thought and what you think will happen. Obviously you already know some of what will happen, but I'm curious as to what you'll come up with. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you later!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for waiting on this one! I apologize for the long wait, but I've been caught up on a few personal matters. Thankfully, I now have a little time to work on this!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Oranges for Mortgage**

* * *

The next day, Todd was in the middle of coaxing a frog villager, Jeremiah, to give him 1,999 for an aloe plant when Aceline walked up. She frowned, grabbed his arm, and yanked him away before Jeremiah could give him the money.

"What the heck are you doing?" She hissed when they were out of earshot. "I thought I told you to lay low!"

"Relax, sis, I'm fine!" Todd protested. "We were just having a friendly barter, that's all."

"A ' _friendly barter_ '?" She repeated, her voice raising a bit. "Todd, you were totally ripping him off! Charging him almost four times the selling price at ReTail? Are you out of your mind?"

"Like I said, Aceline, it was a barter."

"You're gonna get caught again, you nimrod." She groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And don't you go telling me that everyone does this. You should know better by now!"

"But everyone _does_ do this," he pointed out. "If you asked anyone here what they would do, of course they would raise the sell price."

"Still, they wouldn't charge four times the original. Oh, and you're supposed to be helping me with the seashells." She shoved a sand dollar into his hands. "Here. Go sell this instead."

"But why? Isn't this your thing?" He protested.

"Yes, but you're supposed to be helping out with the loans too." She gave him a few more shells. "You're so lazy where it actually counts! And no, I don't call ripping off our neighbors to be 'work'. A hobo could do that better than you."

"Hey, don't compare me to a hobo." He snorted, folding his arms. "I actually like gambling, thank you. It's way better than working."

"Well if you're not going to help me with seashells," she snatched them back and pocketed them, "then you can go pick fruit for me. ReTail is having a special for perfect oranges, and I spotted an orchard of them to the east. Go fill your pockets and bring them to me."

"Ugh, fine." He rolled his eyes again. "But I'm not gonna stop myself from eating some."

"As long as you save the majority, fine. Whatever it takes to get you to work."

He sighed, turning away and walking towards the orange grove, grumbling under his breath.

"Stupid Ace," he muttered, kicking a wilted flower. "Who does she think she is, my mom? I came here to get away from that, not have her turn into it."

Suddenly, he bumped into someone and stumbled backwards. His head shot up, but he relaxed a bit when he saw it was Colton. "Oh... sorry, man. You startled me."

"No, it's okay, check it." Colton shook his head. "What are you doing over here?"

"Oh, my sister sent me on a fruit run." He chuckled, walking through the trees.

"Hey, that sounds fun." The horse smiled. "Mind if I join, check it?"

"Go ahead." Todd shrugged, pushing a tree branch aside.

The two began to chat while they walked, Todd stopping every once in a while to pick some fruit.

"Man, isn't our town the best, check it?" Colton sighed in content as he pulled a pear from his pockets and began eating. "Beautiful flowers everywhere, abundant orchards full of delicious fruit... this is truly heaven!"

"I agree, it is really nice." The noiret agreed monotonously, grabbing another three oranges to put in the fruit basket.

"And our mayor! Man, is she the nicest, check it!" Colton continued to gush, picking an orange to give to Todd. "She's a real pretty gal, she's smart, she's generous, and she's so sweet! Sweet as an apple."

"Is she now." Todd mused.

"You know, rumor has it that she's worth big bucks." Colton looked left and right before smiling. "It's all over town that she's a sort of bell-pincher. The rumor says that she's got about a billion in the bank!"

Wait. Pause.

Todd slowly turned to the horse, his eyes going wide. "How much?" He choked, mentally cursing how his voice cracked.

"A billion, check it!" The horse gleefully repeated. "But she sure doesn't act like it! In fact, she interacts with us like she's poor. Apparently, she's one of those people who can't fit all their money in the ABD, so she hides it around town!"

Todd's brain malfunctioned for a second. "A-And the mayor... is she-"

"And after all of that," Colton interrupted with a dramatic sigh, "I guess she's still single. Most of us wonder why, especially after the last boy-"

Todd drowned out what he was saying, too focused on the greed that slowly seeped through his body. _"One billion bells?! How in the world did she manage to raise that so quick?! Didn't she mention that she's only been mayor for a little more than two years?"_

He glanced through the trees. Somewhere in the distance, he could see the blonde chatting up a villager cheerfully.

His eyes narrowed. _"Somehow, that money will be mine, even if I have to make her fall in love with me to get it."_

Colton had just now noticed that he wasn't paying attention. "Are you listening, check it?"

"Hm?" Todd snapped out of it and gave the horse a fake smile. "Oh, of course! That information about the mayor is pretty interesting. Where'd you hear it?"

"Oho?" The horse scratched the back of his head. "Um... I think I heard it from Cherry or Bella?"

He looked at the sky and shook his head. "I've gotta go, check it. It was fun talking to you!"

"You too, Colton." Todd flashed him another smile.

The horse waved and walked away.

"Interesting," Todd mused as he picked the last orange. He shoved it in the fruit basket and headed back toward the retail store.

* * *

 **A/N: And here is the long-awaited second chapter. I really hope you enjoyed! Please tell me what you thought about it and what will happen. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, here's chapter 3. I hope you like it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: To Shanghai**

* * *

"Let's see." Aceline mused, checking the bags of bells again. "That's about... a hundred from me, and about... thirty from you... altogether, we have enough to pay off the house and then some. We even have enough to work on expanding the room once the house is built."

She smiled, ruffling his hair. "Good job."

"Hey, don't touch me." He frowned at her, swatting her hands away.

She rolled her eyes and operated the ABD, successfully paying off their tent.

Penny, the worker at the counter, gave them a thumbs-up. "Congrats on paying off your loan!"

Todd 'tch'ed and walked out of the post office, leaning on the wall beside the door.

As soon as Aceline exited, she pinched the bridge of her nose, giving him a disapproving look.

"Rude," she hissed at him. "C'mon, let's see Nook."

The two walked into Nook's Homes and said animal greeted them jovially.

"Since you paid off your loan, I assume you want to begin building your house, yes?" He asked rhetorically. "Well lucky for you, I can begin building immediately!"

"As soon as possible, Tom," Aceline smiled at him. "We can pay it off."

"All right, your new loan will come to about 98,000 bells." The raccoon nodded. "Your home will be fully built tomorrow!"

"Thank you!" She shook his paw firmly and led Todd out the door.

As they walked back to town, she glanced over at him to see that he was deep in thought.

"What's on your mind?" She asked suddenly, making him flinch and look up in surprise.

"Hm?" He replied distractedly, waving off her question. "Nothing. Just thinking."

"I know, genius," she rolled her eyes, "what I asked was, 'What's on your mind', meaning, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing you should worry yourself about," he retorted.

"Todd," she heard her own voice rise and she quickly calmed herself, taking a deep breath before replying, "you're my younger brother. Please tell me what's wrong."

"Yeah, _younger_ , but only by twenty minutes," he muttered sarcastically.

"Just tell me, please," she groaned.

"I'll let you know when we get home, if I feel like it," he deadpanned before picking up his pace with a scoff.

She resisted the urge to grab him and drag him home and instead cooled off her rising anger by slowing down, admiring the view of the sunset.

After a few minutes of strolling, she finally found their tent and zipped open the flap, ducking inside.

She found Todd sitting on his bed, a notebook in his hands and a determined expression on his face.

"Oh no," she groaned, catching his attention, "I know that look."

"Oh, you do?" He muttered with a wry smirk. "And just what am I doing?"

"You're making a plan to get the mayor's money, aren't you?" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest with a disapproving glare.

"Am I?" He mused, scribbling down another sentence.

"Todd, don't you learn?" She sighed, removing her glasses to rub her face. "You can't just go your entire life lying, cheating, and stealing other people's stuff."

"Okay, _Mom_ ," he glared right back at her, his grip tightening on the pencil. "If you hate my ways of getting by, then why don't you do anything about it?"

Aceline opened her mouth to angrily retort, but after a few moments of thinking, she slowly closed it and just stared at him.

"That's what I thought." He hissed, turning away from her to continue writing.

 _"Now what should I do..."_ he hummed in thought. _"Hmm... I still remember that one incident with the turkey... but- nah, I can't afford another turkey. Um..."_

He glanced up to see that Aceline had left the tent.

"Okay, now I can work faster." He mumbled, scratching another idea off the list. "If I can't work the turkey, then... hmm... maybe..."

* * *

One hour later...

* * *

"Okay, so if I can't do the turkey idea, the fruit, the baseball, the sack, the remote control, the laptop, the-" he sighed heavily. "Oh, what's the point in listing them all? There's nothing I can do."

He scanned the list once more, his narrowed eyes glancing from word to word.

"What can I do?" He exclaimed in distaste. "I mean, it's not like I can just pull that blacklight scheme again. She doesn't even have a liquid trail on it- or does she?"

He shook his head. "No, no, no, she wouldn't. It's not worth checking now. What else is there...?"

Suddenly, his eyes caught a certain phrase, scribbled half-wittedly on the lowest right-hand corner of the page.

His eyebrows rose.

"Hey..." he mouthed the words as he clumsily pressed his finger to the page.

"Yeah... this will work!" His eyes narrowed and a grin curled his lips. "She's clueless enough, she'll believe anything I say... well, at least if nobody snitches."

"I can and will have her fall in love with me by the end of the year."

* * *

"Hmm..."

Meanwhile, across town, Catelin was eyeing her calendar. A small smile graced her lips as she pointed at a date.

"Ah, Chelsea's birthday is coming!" She squealed happily. "I have to get her a present... what should I get her this year?"

"Oh, yeah, before I forget!" She slammed her fist into her other hand. "I should properly welcome Aceline and Todd to town."

She grabbed a book from the shelf against the wall, decorated with cute stickers and a neat, cursive "Welcoming Book!" on the front. Hauling it to her bed, she cracked it open to a random page and began reading.

"Since they're the first human visitors for quite some time, I'll have to do something special!" She beamed happily, flipping from page to page, eyes scanning them quickly. "I could bake a cake or get them free coffee or something! Wait, no, that's... kinda stupid..."

Her lips went from a smile to a frown, her eyes narrowing in thought.

"Um... hm..." She nodded absentmindedly, reaching for the hot chocolate on her nightstand.

"It's hard to make a decision..." she murmured, taking a sip. She set it back down and smiled at a photo taped onto a page. "Oh yeah, that's when I took..."

"Wait a minute!" She called out, jumping from her bed. "I can take them to the Island! They haven't met Tortimer yet!"

She laughed, shutting the book and hugging it to her chest. "Ah, that's the perfect idea! I can take them at night when they can catch some beetles and sharks! Oh, it's gonna be so fun!"

She put the book back onto the shelf and brought out her bag of bells, humming as she checked.

"Mmkay, let's see... I have twenty thousand... that's way more than enough for a good gift! I'll have to go see what the Able Sisters have over the next few days."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out. Life has been hitting me really hard lately, and I'm getting ready to both take a driving test and get back to school. I thank you for your patience.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, guys. I finally finished chapter 4. First, I need to start off this chapter by saying that I most likely will not have a lot of time to write when August comes. Despite doing a lot of last-minute stuff, school will be starting soon and after that I'll need to invest most of my time in that. Of course, that doesn't mean that I'll go completely cold-turkey, but there is a chance that I won't post a new chapter for a couple of weeks to about a month or so at a time.**

 **That doesn't mean I don't have plans to make time to write! I'll have weekends to do so, so just look out for new chapters on Sundays or something.**

 **Thank you for reading all of that. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Mayoral Welcoming Party**

* * *

The night came and went. Todd spent long hours on his bed, shining a flashlight on the notebook he was working in. Aceline had gone to bed around ten, and he had finally quit writing around two.

When the sun was rising around six in the morning, Aceline woke and began the day by slipping out of bed and going to the shared closet, noting how much better the wooden flooring felt instead of the bottom of a tent. She sorted through her clothes, picking out a cherry tee and a denim skirt. She put her glasses on and turned to look at Todd's bed, where he was still asleep, sprawled out on top of the covers. Granted, he had his pajamas on, but the notebook was on the floor and his pencil was still in his tight grip.

She sighed, shaking her head. She gingerly picked the book off the floor and set it on the table before attempting to pry the pencil out of his fist. It took a few minutes of yanking on his fingers before she was able to free it, and set it right on top of the book.

She sighed, shaking her head at him with a tiny smile on her face. "You goof. I suppose I can let him sleep in a while."

With that, she left the one-room house, muttering under her breath, "But I swear, if he's not up by noon, I'm waking him."

She started everything the same way she had ever since they'd gotten there; first, she went around digging up fossils and shaking trees for money, then she moved on to shaking down fruit trees for quick cash.

Always, she began with the oranges and worked her way around town.

She quickly filled up her inventory and, after selling off her stock to ReTail, she continued, always leaving one tree in case the residents wanted to eat some fruit.

She wiped the sweat from her brow, yanking another apple off the tree. She narrowed her eyes, spying a fruit on one of the higher branches.

"Oh, hey, Aceline!" Catelin greeted as she walked up to her. She smiled, seeing her stretching. "Need any help?"

"Oh, hello." Aceline paused in her mission and glanced at her over her shoulder. "I would love some, actually."

"Great!" Catelin patted her on the shoulder and grabbed a couple of stronger branches, lifting herself off the ground. She planted her feet firmly on a few knots of the trunk and reached for the apple. When she picked it, she handed it to an astonished Aceline before jumping down, dusting off her hands.

"You're... that was pretty cool." The noirette complimented, setting the apple in her basket. "What brings you over here so early in the morning?"

"Early?" The mayor giggled, showing her the time. "It's almost eleven."

"Has it really been that long...?" Aceline sighed, putting the basket in her pockets. "I'll have to get back home soon. Did you need something?"

"Oh! Right! I was wondering if, since you're new to town and all, you'd like to join me at the tropical island?" She asked, twirling her hoodie string around her finger. "You can earn a lot more money that way! Oh, and you'll meet Tortimer!"

"Tortimer?" Aceline rose an eyebrow.

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know him." Catelin chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry. He was the mayor before I was."

"Huh."

"So, will you? Please?" The blonde put on her best puppy eyes and clasped her hands together. "You and Todd would have a lot of fun!"

"I don't know..." The girl glanced in the direction of her house. "I still have to wake Todd up if he's still sleeping, and I really need to make some more money so we can expand our home. If I know him, he'll be complaining about the tight space before long."

Catelin pouted. "But- you can make so much more money on the island. I know all kinds of strategies to maximize your money pool, and there are tons of fun activities you can do that can net you rare items."

"Rare items, you say?" Aceline adjusted her glasses and turned fully toward the girl. "What kinds?"

"They're super pretty!" Catelin gushed. "I have a few sets at my house, actually! They're all tropical themed, like some mermaid furniture, and cabana, and I remember a good friend of mine's favorite set was the pirate themed stuff."

The noirette hummed in thought while Catelin kept speaking.

"And if you get enough medals from the activities, you can get a membership to Club Tortimer, and you can meet all kinds of people!" She beamed. "People all over the world come to hang out at a certain island, and it's a blast! So please, won't you come with me? It'll be my treat!"

"How much does it cost to go there?"

"Usually, you pay about a thousand bells per round trip, but since you're new, I'll pay the travel expense."

Aceline narrowed her eyes. "It does sound fun..."

"It is, it really is!" Catelin chimed in. "So please come with me? Think of it as your welcoming party!"

The noirette thought a little more. "Well... it would provide a break from just picking fruit and catching bugs all day..."

"If you come, you can get rare bugs to sell for more money." The mayor's eyes sparkled at the thought. "And if you get there late enough in the day, you can catch sharks, which are worth a ton!"

Aceline turned to stare off into the distance. "Hmm... I do fancy the idea, but we'll have to see what Todd thinks."

"Of course!" Catelin eagerly nodded, taking her arm. "C'mon, let's go sell your stuff and we can go visit!"

While the blonde dragged her off, Aceline chuckled. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

Meanwhile, Todd was just stirring in his bed. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision, before he groggily sat up in bed, rubbing his eye.

"Morning," he muttered, glancing around. "Of course Ace would be up before me."

He glanced at his watch. "Hmm... eleven-thirty. Might as well get up and review my strategy, eh?"

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood, going over to the closet. He picked out a camo tee and denim shorts. Dressing, he grabbed the book and pencil and returned to his bed, sitting cross-legged on top of his covers.

"Let's see," he mused, glancing at a calendar hanging on the wall above the log table. "It's been a full day since we got here... if I play my cards right, her fortune can be mine before Valentine's Day. All I'd have to do is find a way to go through her bank account, withdraw everything, then hitch a ride on the next train out of here. Bada bing, bada boom, done."

He narrowed his eyes. "Alright, first off, I should start by being friends with her-"

When the front door open, he was quick to shut the notebook and hide it under his sheets before anyone saw. He put on a smile when his sister and Catelin entered.

"Oh, there you are!" Said mayor was sunny as always, reaching out to him. "C'mon, let's go to the tropical island! It'll be so much fun!"

He blinked. Then a smile broke out on his face. _Maybe this was the chance!_

"Sure," he replied, getting up from the bed and slipping his shoes on. "That sounds awesome!"

"Great, then let's go." Catelin grabbed Aceline's hand and dragged her out of the house with Todd following them.

The mayor was excitedly chatting about something or other, and Todd glanced around to see a couple of villagers talking. One of them glanced over at him for a moment before turning back to the conversation, and he frowned.

 _"They'd better not be planning to tell her,"_ he thought bitterly.

"So, Catelin," he began to speak, cutting her off as she gave him her full attention. She let go of Aceline's hand to walk beside him, and the girl ignored the two of them, walking a little bit ahead.

"Yeah?" She asked.

 _"Shoot, how do I phrase this?"_ He scolded himself before smiling smoothly at her. "Tell me about yourself."

"Wh- huh?" She blinked, staring at him for a moment. Finally, she began to laugh. "Todd, didn't I already tell you about myself when you got here?"

 _"She must have,"_ he mused. He chuckled with her. "Not all of that, silly, I wanna know _you_. What has it been like living here for so long? Got any good friends?"

She hummed in thought. "Well, I've already told you guys about my history with Cherry and Colton," she ticked off the names on her fingers, "and I worked real hard to convince Ankha to come here... um... did I tell you about Snake and his misadventures?"

"I don't recall." He shrugged. "Even if you did, I'd like to hear it again."

A charming smile caused her to turn away with a slight blush. Checkpoint reached.

"Okay, well," she folded her arms across her chest. "Hmm... I don't know if I told you the story about Snake getting stung by bees. Well, the entire thing was my fault, but he was so gracious afterwards."

"Go for it." He made sure at least one ear was facing her as they walked, glancing over at her every few seconds.

She began to tell him the story about her accidentally getting Snake stung by bees. It was quite a riveting tale, but it hardly interested him. Of course, when she laughed at a few points in the story, he laughed with her.

"And the poor animal must've been so bewildered," she finished her most recent bout of laughing by wiping away a tear, "because I sent him about ten letters of apology! Oh man, but at least he got a new furniture set out of it."

"What a story," he agreed with a smile. "I doubt you'll ever have something like that again."

"No, never." She shook her head. "Not if I can help it. At the very least, I learned my lesson about shaking non-fruit trees."

"Have any stories about yourself?" He asked. He noted that they had gotten to the docks. "Ah... we're here already."

"Yes, indeed." She smiled and walked up to the boat docked there. "Excuse me, Kapp'n! I have two friends I'd like to take with me to the island!"

"Aye, me wee lass," the kappa nodded. "The fare for a round-trip is about 1,000 bells."

"I got it." She paid him the money and turned to the twins with a beaming smile. "C'mon, guys!"

Aceline took a tentative step forward onto the dock, her eyes trained on the water sloshing around underneath. But once she looked up at Catelin, her uneasiness slowly faded and she grabbed the blonde's hand, allowing her to help her into the boat.

Todd was next, strolling onto the dock without a care. He let himself into the boat, hopping in and making it rock a bit. Aceline looked startled and glared at him, to which he smirked at.

Catelin stepped in last, sitting next to Todd in the front.

"Everyone aboard?" Kapp'n called. "Then let's away!"

He started the motor, revving the engine a few times before the boat began to rumble. He rose the flag - a colorful version of the flag that Tortimer had flown in his hayday as mayor - and began steering the boat away from the dock.

"It'll take a while for us to reach the island," Catelin explained, glancing back towards the captain, "and Kapp'n will be singing for most of it. What was it you were asking me before?"

"Oh, I was asking you for stories about you." He smiled at her. "Perhaps stories about how you became mayor?"

"Oh, that." She nodded. "I can tell you about that, but it'll be a pretty long story. Sure you're up for it?"

"Of course." He smirked and folded his arms. "I can take any story you throw at me."

She giggled, clasping her hands together across her lap while she crossed one leg over the other. "Ooh, determined! Alright. I guess it all started about a year after I moved here."

"The condensed version of how I became Mayor of Phemera is that I guess Tortimer had been planning to retire for a while." She began to explain. "But every time he tried to give up his position, something else would come up that would push back his retirement even further. Eventually, though, during my second year here, he decided that he was going to retire by the end of the year. He announced it to the whole town and he said that he would be picking a candidate that would become mayor before he left."

Todd nodded. "I see... so that's why he isn't here anymore." _"A relief for me, really."_

"Uh-huh." She agreed. "Of course, everyone was super bummed about it, but a large portion of the animals living here were excited about possibly becoming mayor. Sadly, that meant that whenever anyone saw Tortimer, they would kiss-up to him and butter him up so that they would be higher on his list of choices. It got so bad that Tortimer hardly left the town hall anymore... but that meant that every day someone would be visiting just to try and talk to the mayor."

"Eventually, the end of the year came." She sighed, looking up at the clouds for a moment before going back to looking at Todd. He was looking away for a split-second while a fish jumped. "After we had celebrated Christmas Day, Tortimer gathered everyone at the town hall and said that the new mayor was me."

Todd nodded, only half paying attention.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Everyone was so shocked. Although I can bet they were angry deep down that they weren't chosen, everyone who spoke to me after that congratulated me and were nice to me."

"I wasn't the only human living here at the time, but right after New Years' Eve came and went, I guess I was the only one still here." She looked saddened for a minute, but she snapped out of it. "But I promised Isabelle on my inauguration day that I would be the very best mayor I could be. I had no plans on leaving Phemera at all at the time, so I also promised her that unless a major family emergency came up, I wouldn't leave. Kind of a stupid promise in hindsight, but she did seem relieved that I wasn't going to pass down the mayoral duties any time soon."

"That's amazing." He commented.

"It really was." Either she didn't notice his impatient stare at the horizon, or she just ignored it. "I began my duties the very next day. The first thing I did was improve the financial situation of the town."

Once Todd's ears caught the word 'financial', he turned to look at her in surprise. "Wait... the economy of the town was bad at one point?"

"Unfortunately, Tortimer didn't place economy high on the list when it came to stuff he had to do," she sheepishly laughed. "I mean, he did the bare minimum to keep it going, but it wasn't until I placed the Bell Boom ordinance into effect that the other animals here were really satisfied with the money they were making."

Todd nodded. "I have had other villagers coming up to me and telling me how happy they are now that they have more money lining their wallets."

"It's been amazing." She gushed. "Of course, for me, that's when it really began. I renovated my house by just doing the minimum! It only took a couple of days to do it, too. And then two weeks after I became mayor I got the invitation from Tortimer-"

"Ahoy, land be just up ahead." Kapp'n cut her off.

"Looks like I'll have to tell you the rest some other time." She winked at Todd and looked ahead to where Tortimer's island was coming into view.

Todd mentally sighed, but tried his best to keep the disappointment off his face as the fruity island air entered his nose.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for your patience. I'll try my best to update regularly through the year, but school is almost here and I'll have to spend most of my time on my work. Thank you for understanding in advance. I'll see you in the next update!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey. I know it's been a few months, but I've been busy with school. Thankfully, I have the next chapter ready, and I'm already working on Chapter 6. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Tours and Bells**

* * *

"Alright, we're finally here!" Catelin cheered. "Now lemme just brief you on stuff we can do here."

She led them around the cabana. "Leilani's desk is where you can sign up for tours. They don't cost anything, since you didn't bring your wallets with you, but doing well in tours can get you medals, which you can trade for rare stuff!"

Said kappa gave them a sweet smile as they passed.

Catelin pointed to an older kappa sitting on a stool. "She's told me to call her Grams. She's the one to see if you wanna buy some furniture or any of the clothing items she sells. She also has sign-ups for Club Tortimer, which will allow you to travel to an island where people from all around the world go to! It's so fun!"

She finally knelt beside a tiny kappa, who grinned toothily at the visitors.

"And finally, this is Layla." She patted the girl's head. "In case you don't have enough room in the box next to the door to take stuff home, she'll buy it off of you!"

Aceline nodded to the girl. "She's cute."

"She's Kapp'n's daughter." Catelin stood, smiling down at the animal. "She's so cute, I just have to let her buy something off of me every time I come here."

She led them outside. "And finally, this is the beach! It's so pretty during the sunset. You can come here any time of the day, but the real way to make money is to come after eight. You can borrow tools and wetsuits from the gyroid here."

"So!" She ended her explanation with a deep breath. "What do you wanna do first? You can't really get much money right now because the higher-priced bugs come out a night, but you can do whatever!"

"I'd like to try my hand at some tours," Aceline replied with a shrug.

"Cool! Come on." The three went back inside the cabana and up to Leilani's desk.

"What tour do ye want to do?" She asked, showing them a list.

"Ooh, how about we do all of them?" She asked, her eyes shining. "We can do all of them today! That's a surefire way for both of you to get Club Tortimer certificates!"

"Sure, I'm down." Todd stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Let's begin with the Easy Balloon-Hunt!"

* * *

Truth be told, Todd had low expectations when Catelin had dragged him and his sister off that afternoon. He'd perceived that the whole trip would be boring and a waste of time.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Reluctantly, after a few tours had been done, he realized that Tortimer's tropical escape was really fun. He found himself laughing along with Catelin as they ran mazes to find fruit, competing in a bug-catching contest, and catching-slash-releasing rare fish. He often glanced at Aceline only to find a happy smile on her face, much to his surprise. He hadn't seen Aceline enjoying something this much since she had been in their middle-school gymnastics team.

When they'd gone through all of the tours (and after Todd had asked to do them all _again_ ), the twins had enough medals to get memberships to Club Tortimer. Although he secretly noted that he wouldn't use his that much, he caught a glimpse of Aceline smiling to herself as she signed the paperwork.

 _"It's no secret that she loves competing in group activities,"_ he mused as he followed the blonde mayor outside.

"Now that it's past eight o'clock, we can get started in catching some bugs!" Catelin exclaimed happily. "Grab a net and a fishing rod, because we'll be here for hours!"

"Can't wait," he replied, tucking them both into his pockets. "Where do we start first?"

"Well, it all depends on what's here." She hummed, shaking a tree. Almost immediately, a tiny green bug flew away. "See that? That was a fruit beetle. Make sure they fly away as soon as possible, otherwise you won't get much of a profit."

"Gotcha." He nodded and began walking around the island. Once he got to the bottom of the island, he paused when he saw a fin sticking out of the water. "Hey, uh, what's this?"

"Ooh!" Catelin squealed, walking over. "That might be a shark! Hurry up and cast your rod!"

He grabbed the fishing rod and cast the bobber into the water. Both of them watched in trepidation as the fish noticed the bait and began to nibble.

"Ooh, just wait-!" The blonde grew closer, causing him to become slightly uncomfortable.

Suddenly, the moment the bobber dipped below the water's surface, his body jerked, and he yanked the fish out of the water.

"It's a..." He looked to Catelin with question in his eyes. "...?"

"Ocean Sunfish, I guess!" She shrugged, that same smile on her face. "You'll probably get a shark next time!"

"Hey, I caught a Hammerhead!" Aceline called out from across the island. Catelin whirled around and gaped.

"No way!" She cried, rushing off.

Todd could hear the two girls talking about it, Aceline with a prideful air about her and Catelin with excited, exaggerated gestures.

He shook his head, pocketing the fish. He reached for the fish guide in his back pocket, but then remembered that he'd left it behind when they got on the boat. Stifling a heavy exhale through his nose, he looked around the beach more.

He found a couple of shells lying around, to which he pocketed to sell to Kapp'n's daughter later.

A few minutes later, Aceline and Catelin rejoined him, the latter gushing about what they caught.

"Oh, it was so cool!" She squealed. "Aceline caught a rainbow stag!"

"Rainbow stag, eh?" He hummed in thought as he finished selling to Layla. "Maybe I should try my hand at that."

"You should, you should!" The blonde nodded vigorously. "In fact, there's probably more rare bugs out there."

Aceline smirked at him when Catelin wasn't looking. "Do it," she mouthed.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"So?" Catelin was pulling out the puppy eyes at this point. "Please?"

"Yeah, I'll do it." He shrugged and let her lead the way.

As soon as they stepped outside, the warm summer breeze hit his face and he exhaled deeply. Catelin had been right about the island; it had a way of calming you down.

"Aha!" Her voice snapped him out of it and he turned to see that She was walking towards a tree. "Here, here, catch it!"

He eyed the tree and finally found a golden stag beetle, sitting casually on the trunk. He grabbed the net from his inventory and approached it slowly, keeping his eye on the prize. Whenever it stopped moving, he paused until it wiggled around again.

He got closer, and closer, and closer...

Catelin was waiting with bated breath, her eyes wide open and mouthing "C'mon, c'mon" over and over. Aceline stood beside her, eyes narrowed in thought.

He crept ever closer to the tree, until...

 _There!_

He quickly swung the net down, capturing the bug in it.

Catelin whooped and Aceline sighed in relief.

"You did it, Todd!" The blonde was beaming as she raced over to embrace him.

Fear began filling his senses as she wrapped her arms around his middle. His eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open in shock. Rapid-fire, thoughts shot through his head.

 _"Oh no, what do I do?! She's touching me!"_

Finally, he shoved her away, grabbed the bug, shoved it in his pockets, and bolted off in a blind panic.

Catelin stumbled backwards, caught off-guard. Stunned for a few moments, she stared after him.

"What did I... do...?" She asked slowly.

Aceline shook her head, placing a hand on Catelin's shoulder. "It's not your fault. Todd should have told you."

"Told me what?"

The noirette paused. Then she saw the hurt in the mayor's eyes.

Finally, she relented. "I'll tell you later. Now's not the time."

"Really?" The blonde sighed. "Why can't you tell me right now?"

"Because, I think this is something that should wait until we get home." Aceline glanced up at the night sky, seeing the stars twinkling silently above.

* * *

Todd stumbled to his knees, his heart pumping painfully as he gasped for air. Adreneline pulsed through his veins, making him feel like the world was spinning.

"Where's my inhaler?" He wheezed, frantically searching his pockets. "Oh no, I left it back in town!"

Breathe, his mind screamed. He tried his best to calm down, breathing slower than before, trying to calm his heart. He clutched at his chest, the pain still there, almost like stabbing him with a knife.

 _"In... out..."_ he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, holding it for two seconds, then releasing. He did it again, the feeling of his heart pounding in his brain slowly vanishing.

After a few minutes, he did feel calmer, especially after he avoided thinking about the incident. Still, he couldn't help but wonder...

 _"Does she know?"_ The thought briefly flickered through his brain, but he dismissed it _. "No... I've only known her for a couple of days, but... she wouldn't exploit something like this."_

He felt guilty for freaking out, especially after shoving her. _"I really shouldn't have pushed her so hard... I need to apologize."_

"Todd, are you okay?" Catelin's voice made him turn around, only to see her and his sister walking towards him. Catelin's face was twisted in worry, while Aceline seemed concerned, though she didn't show it much.

"You good?" She asked, extending a hand to help him up. As expected, he planted his hands on the wooden floor and pushed himself up from his knees, quickly dusting them off before facing the girls. "You forgot your inhaler, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I had to," He confirmed it with a nod, sparing a glance at Catelin.

"I'm so sorry for what I did," she apologized, hiding her red face in her hands. "I didn't know you didn't want to be touched."

"No, no," he frowned at her. "I should be the one apologizing. I didn't... warn you properly. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard."

"It's not your fault!" The blonde insisted, uncovering her face to stare defiantly at him. "I promise I won't touch you ever again - without consent, of course."

He stared back, dumbfounded for a second as he tried to think of something to say.

 ** _"What, are you gonna cry like a baby if I poke you again? Ha! Loser!"_**

"Well, c'mon, guys." Aceline patted the girl's shoulder and deposited some bugs and fish into the box. "We have enough high-paying stuff; let's go home for now."

"I really am sorry," Catelin mentioned quietly to Todd as they boarded the boat.

He turned to look at her. When he saw the disappointed look on her face, he sighed.

"It's fine, Catelin." He smiled when she looked up. "I'm fine. Let's just forget that freakout ever happened."

* * *

 **A/N: A little short, probably, but that's chapter 5! Please tell me what you thought. See you in chapter 6!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey, here's the next chapter! I promise, I'll try not to have such a big gap between updates. I really want to finish this, and I'll bet you're dying to see the finished project almost as much as I am, if not more.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Catelin's Fundraising**

* * *

All the way back to the village, the three young people sat in silence. Catelin was unusually quiet, staring at her knees or gazing at the horizon. Aceline kept glancing back at her, her brows knitted in a small frown. She looked as if she were dying to say something, anything, to break the awkward atmosphere, but she just couldn't bring herself to speak.

And Todd. Todd tried to squelch the guilt bubbling in his chest at the sight of the downtrodden mayor by staring into the sky. He quietly brewed over the situation in his brain, her surprised face as she stumbled backwards printed in the back of his eyes.

He clenched his jaw, his eyes slowly sliding down to look at his hands, balled into fists in his lap, wrinkling the fabric of his shorts.

Between Kapp'n's singing and the hum of the motor, it almost seemed like there was no room for casual chat.

After a tense half an hour, Kapp'n announced the end of their trip. He parked the boat at the dock, and, after each person had almost woodenly climbed out of the boat and onto the dock, he gave them their items.

"Yar, do come again, lass." Kapp'n nodded to Catelin and she gave him a smile, though not as bright as before.

"Thank you, Kapp'n." She said softly as she turned to the basket at the edge of the dock. Lifting the lid, she began to shovel fish and bugs into her inventory.

Aceline joined her, quickly stuffing her Rainbow Stag into her pocket. She nudged Todd and, after being given a look, he slowly packed some into his as well.

When they were done, the blonde turned to the twins with a smile.

"Today was pretty fun," she said, grabbing her shovel. "Let's do this again sometime."

* * *

In the morning, after Aceline had given him a quick talk about their finances - and reminding him sternly to sell things - he left the tiny home.

He turned to the left, his eye catching the horizon, lined with approaching clouds. He decided to walk down to the beach, keen on spending as much time alone as possible before trying to get ahead in the plan.

The snow crunched gently beneath his shoes as he bundled up closer, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his winter jacket. It was a cold January morning already, and the wind that whistled past didn't help.

As he walked through the town, he caught glimpses of the streetlamps and fountains that beautified the otherwise boring landscape. He smiled a bit as he saw the cardboard cut-out near the campsite, its bright, silly colors providing an interesting contrast to the tracks cut in the snow.

He slowly made his way down the slope, waving to a few animals as he passed them, and finally got to the snowy cliffs of the beach. Although it was still winter - and that said season wouldn't leave for a couple of months yet - the tropical fruit trees still grew thick before the cliff, there was no snow on the sand, and the waves kept their rhythm of advancing and retreating upon the shore.

He exhaled, absentmindedly watching his breath swirl in the air as he walked down the stone path to the sand. The cheerful green of the palm tree leaves distracted him for a few moments, enough for him to feel the winter sun slowly creeping through the clouds.

His ears perked up when he heard someone walking on the beach, and as he glanced to his right he saw the unmistakable blonde head of Catelin shuffling along, picking fruit here and there and adding it to a basket she was carrying.

"Mayor?" He asked, and it startled her enough to rip a banana off of its bunch with more force than necessary. She swiveled around to stare at him before giving him a bright grin.

"Good morning, Todd!" She greeted, approaching him with her banana still in hand. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you down here. What are you up to?"

"Just taking a walk," he shrugged. "What are you doing?"

"I'm picking bananas to sell." She replied, holding up the basket. "They're having a special today. Bananas and conch shells, I think."

"That's cool." He nodded. "Do you need help?"

"Oh boy, yes, I would love help." She set the banana in the basket and led him to where she was picking before. "Here, you can help me get baskets."

He nodded, adding another banana to it before she put it back in her pockets. She fished out another basket and handed it to him.

He meandered along, listening to her tell him about what she was going to do that day as they picked.

"So I was thinking," she hummed, "that I haven't seen you while working at the Roost. Do you go there?"

"Sometimes, when I need something to wake me up." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Man, Brewster really has a way of giving you a jolt in the morning."

"I know!" She agreed. "And he never lets you wait for it to cool. I remember I probably annoyed him so much when I first got here. I have a really sensitive tongue, and I have to wait for my coffee to cool down a lot before I drink it."

He nodded.

"So I would say I was going to wait, and his face was so priceless," she laughed, grabbing another banana, "he looked at me as if I had just insulted his mother!"

"That is pretty funny," he huffed out something resembling a chuckle. "I usually just down it and go. Hot things don't bother me."

"Whoa, seriously?" She seemed surprised at his answer. "How can you do that? His coffee is piping hot when you get it! I can hardly keep my hands on the cup."

He simply shrugged, a tiny teasing smile tugging at his lips. "Maybe I'm just magical like that."

"I guess you are."

They reached the end of the beach and turned around. They had already picked from all but two of the trees, and Todd was sure her pockets were absolutely stuffed with fruit. But she seemed not to mind, simply picking one from her jean pocket and offering it to him.

He politely declined, cringing on the inside when she opened it and began eating. _"It's too bad I can't eat them,"_ he mused to himself. _"But meh, that's not my problem."_

They had gotten a fair distance down the shore when he decided to bring up, "You never finished telling me about the history of the town yesterday, did you?"

"Did I?" She mused, swallowing her last bite of banana before pulling out a bag, putting the peel inside, and sealing it. "I guess I didn't. Where were we?"

"You were telling me about the island." He reminded her patiently, gazing at her face.

"Oh, right! I was! Okay." She nodded. "So, lemme backtrack a little bit. Before I became mayor, right after Tortimer had announced that I was going to recieve his title, he and I had a talk in the town hall."

Todd nodded, slightly affronted that she was mentioning something that probably didn't matter.

"Well, he told me that he had co-ownership of an island with Kapp'n, and that he would be sending me an invite to it a week after I had been mayor. Sort of a 'housewarming gift', he described."

"After I started going," she continued, stooping to pick up a seashell, "we grew very close. I especially started developing the town after I got a Club Tortimer membership, but that's a story for another time." She waved off the topic.

"That's interesting." He glanced past her when he saw a seagull flying on the horizon. "Tell me more."

"Well," she recalled with a slight frown, "I guess Tortimer was lonely? The only immediate family he has left is his son, and his son lives in New Felicity along with Tortimer's granddaughter. He never sees them except for birthdays and holidays, so he was glad to have a, and I quote, 'young person to help him get hip with it'. He's a really funny guy like that, I guess."

"Who'd have thought the old mayor wanted to identify with the younger generations." Todd breathed out a laugh.

"I know." A smile graced her lips. "I started going to see him every day because it made him happy, but soon he taught me enough tricks for saving money that I didn't need to go as much. At one point, I was only going to the island twice a week."

"And let me guess, he got depressed?"

"Heavily." She shook her head, almost solemn. "The first time in a week I went, he saw me and started crying because he thought that I didn't want to come and visit anymore. I felt so bad that I started going twice a day for a while."

"Wow." Todd nodded with her, frowning.

"It really got to me, you know? I guess it's because seeing him like that reminded me of when C- oh, never mind, I shouldn't tell you that one yet."

"Huh? Tell me what?" Terribly confused, all he could do was raise an eyebrow at her behavior.

"Nothing, nothing." She shook her head and gave him a smile. "I think we've got enough fruit for now. Let's go sell this off."

* * *

"And one more makes 20. Good work!" Reese smiled, handing the mayor her bells. "Here you go."

"Thank you so much!" Catelin chirped, turning to Todd. "Here's your share. Keep whatever money you got from selling the bananas."

He pocketed the money she gave him and walked out of the shop with her, waving to her as she headed off in another direction.

He exhaled, watching his breath swirl in the cold air. Frowning to himself, he watched her walking, questions swimming in his brain.

 _"What was that memory she was going to tell me?"_ He asked himself as she stopped to talk to a villager. _"It seemed important..."_

After waiting there for a few moments more, he shivered as a breeze suddenly rushed past him, digging through his coat and chilling him to the bone. He stuffed his hands back into his pockets, hunched over so that his face was partially hidden in the collar of his coat, and began to walk to the train tracks.

"Maybe I'll go see about furniture," he mumbled.

The image of her red face flashed through his mind again and he shook a tree, satisfied to watch the snow fall off its branches.

* * *

Catelin bid goodbye to the villager and kept walking. For a moment, she glanced behind to see Todd shuffling his way uptown, and a brief smile tugged at her lips.

 _"He seemed so standoffish when we first met,"_ she sighed to herself, _"why is he suddenly so interested in knowing me?"_

 _"It almost seemed as if he were... bored with me."_ She continued to wrack her brain. _"I could see it in his eyes that he didn't care. So why? Why this change of attitude?"_

Suddenly, a lightbulb flickered to life in her mind and she breathed a laugh.

 _"Of course,"_ she mused in amusement. _"It must be because I'm literally the only human girl here besides his sister. I remember I felt the same way when I first moved here..."_

With that thought in mind, she shook another tree, revelling in the satisfaction of watching the fruit tumble to the snowy ground, the excess snow on the tree's branches springing into the air as the weight lifted.

* * *

 **A/N: This seemed even shorter than the last one (even though it's 2K words), and I apologize if it feels like filler, but I promise the next chapter will start speeding things up. Please tell me what you thought. See you later!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I apologize in advance if this seems too short. I've been working hard (and getting swamped with coursework in the process, rip me), and I'm trying to write a book for an English project on top of this. If you want, please check out my Wattpad to see it!**

 **No more stalling; here's the chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Last-Minute Gift**

* * *

To Todd's chagrin, the better part of the time he spent trying to cajole Catelin into talking her finances was wasted on stories of her past, and to say he was getting frustrated was the understatement of the millenium. Even though some of her stories were interesting to hear, it wasn't what he found her for, and every time he realized that he was getting nowhere with her, he had to excuse himself to a quiet corner of town to try and calm down.

 _"Why is she not talking?!"_ He screamed to himself as he angrily ripped an apple off the branches and started to devour it with more force than necessary. Harshly wiping the juices off his chin, he narrowed his eyes. _"This is getting me nowhere, and I don't have much more time before someone squeals and we have to get outta here again."_

 _"Drastic measures will have to be taken,"_ he assured himself as he straightened up, marching right back to where he'd left the oblivious blonde.

"Sorry I took so long," he told her as he came to where she stood.

"Oh, no, it's fine." Her smile was more blinding than usual. "Bella came by a little bit earlier and we had a nice chat."

"Good, that's good." He flashed a smile. "Say, why don't we spend the day at the island? I want to try my hand at some tours."

Her eyes widened for a moment, but then she beamed. "Sure, I'd love to!"

* * *

The next few days followed that pattern, almost exactly to a T. Todd would find Catelin around town somewhere, walk with her, talk with her, and ask her to do something with him, all with that charming demeanor. The first couple of times she talked to him, she got easily flustered at his insistence of spending time with her, but as time went on, she came to eagerly expect him to find her.

One night, while she was sitting on the couch, the TV barely registering in her brain, she was wondering why on Earth he was so persistent.

"Maybe he just really wants to know the only other human girl in town...?" She murmured, propping her chin up in her hand. "Or... could it be...?"

A warm flush came across her cheeks when the thought popped in her head, "What if... does he... have a crush on _me_?"

She fidgeted in her seat. "I mean, that would explain a lot of his behavior around me..."

* * *

One morning, Aceline was reading through the calendar when she noticed something.

"Hey," she said, catching Todd's attention, "Chelsea's birthday is in two days."

"So?" She could practically see him rolling his eyes. "How does that affect me?"

"We need to get her a present." She shot back, turning to face him with an eyebrow raised.

"Again, I raise the point to you: so?"

"Don't you get it?" She rolled her eyes. "We need to get a _present_. That means we'll need to go to _Main Street_. If I'm not _mistaken_..."

She paused for a moment, waiting for any sense of realization from Todd. When she was awarded nothing, she sighed in disappointment.

"Cate was telling me the other day that she'd delayed in getting Chelsea a gift because they didn't have what she liked." She said bluntly. "She'll be going to the Emporium, where we're going."

His eyes widened. " _Oh_ , that makes sense."

He jumped up, grabbing his winter coat. "Well, let's go already."

 _"Now you're getting it."_ Chuckling to herself, she made sure she had about ten thousand in her pockets before stepping towards the door. "Alright, already."

They left quickly, Aceline finding herself nearly being dragged to Main by her twin. She smiled a little while watching him, noticing the determined expression on his face.

Then, the smile dropped. _"Ah, so that's why he's so eager to see Cate."_

Just as they'd walked up the steps to the shopping district, they saw said blonde walking out of the Able Sisters'.

"Oh! Aceline, Todd, hi!" She exclaimed with a cheerful grin. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Are you looking for a present too?"

"Yeah, we forgot." Todd chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders. "But we're here now. Any idea about what she likes?"

"That's not all we're here for, doofus." Aceline snorted. "How've you been, Catelin?"

"I'm good, I'm good." She rocked back and forth on the heels of her feet. "I made another twenty thousand before lunch, so I'm happy."

"That's great." The noirette was surprised. "I'm kinda shocked you're _that_ productive in the morning."

"So anyway," she brushed one of her bangs out of her face with a smile, "I'm sorry we interrupted you, Todd. The Emporium is selling a K.K. song she likes."

"Cool." He nodded.

"Let's go buy it, then." Aceline gave the mayor a tiny smile. "Thanks for the info."

"No problem!" She replied.

The twins bade her goodbye and headed into the grandiose shop. After looking a little, they found the song and some wrapping paper.

While Todd bought the two items, Aceline bought a musical card and immediately began fiddling with it.

"Aw, Ace, why'd you get that?" He pouted. "I thought we were just gonna get the CD."

"Don't call me Ace," she reminded. "And I wanted to get her something from both of us."

"Isn't that what the CD is for?" He asked in confusion.

"No, you goose," she said, "the CD is from either of us, and this card will be signed from both, but whoever doesn't give her the CD will give her the card."

When she had tapped out the 'Happy Birthday' song, she smiled in triumph. "Alright. Now for a cute message..."

"I still don't see the point." He deadpanned.

"You will." She grumped, signing both of their names at the bottom of the card.

After she'd finished with the card, Todd slipped out of the shop with a yell over his shoulder, "I'm gonna go find the mayor."

He checked all of the shops on Main Street before deducing that she was in town somewhere. When he asked one of the villagers, they pointed him towards the Roost.

He hurried over and stepped inside, the warmth and the scent of fresh-brewed coffee enticing him.

He saw her sitting at the counter, a cup of coffee in front of her. At the sound of the door, she turned her head.

"Oh, Todd." She seemed surprised. "I thought you were with Aceline."

"Nah, we already got the gift." He sauntered over and gestured to the stool next to her. "Can I sit?"

"Sure! I don't mind." She shook her head.

He sat down and gave Brewster his order, and after the brew was in sat on the countertop he took the cup and, after blowing for a meager second, was able to down the entire coffee in a few gulps.

When he sat the cup back on its saucer with a satisfied sigh, he caught Catelin staring at him in disbelief.

"Ho- _how_?" She stuttered. "That shouldn't be humanly possible!"

He shrugged. "I told you before, hot things don't bother me."

"I thought you were only referring to spicy things..." she mumbled with an embarrassed blush. "A-Anyway, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out today." He gave her a smile, and her cheeks heated up even more.

"Sure, I'd love to." She managed a friendly expression back. "How does my house at 3 sound?"

"It sounds perfect, thank you." He nodded, pulling out a notebook to write it down. "I won't forget."

* * *

 **A/N: And thus ends chapter 7. Please tell me what you thought, and I'll see you sometime. Happy Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate it)!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey, guys, and welcome back to this book. I'm finally on Christmas break! I've also gotten this chapter done, so here you go. Maybe I'll have something for Christmas as well? We'll see. See you at the bottom.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: The First Rose**

* * *

"Hey, 'line, I'm goin' to Catelin's!" He called out, plucking a rose from their mini 'garden' on the side of the house.

"Don't pick all of my roses, you savage!" She yelled back. "I've spend good money on those seeds, and I will _not_ keep replacing them forever!"

He didn't even bother responding as he walked off, determined to get to her house early.

It wasn't a far walk, as Catelin's house was close to the plaza. When he knocked on the door, he checked his watch. Two minutes early.

She opened the door in a rush, a haphazard combination of a starry-sky shirt and red boxing shorts greeting him.

"Hi!" She gasped. "You're... early!"

"Indeed I am." He agreed with a smile. "I like your fashion choices."

She turned beet red when she realized and she tugged the bottom hem of her shirt over the shorts. "Please, uh, come in."

He handed her the rose from the garden and strolled inside, either not seeing or ignoring her giving the flower a sniff.

She smiled discretely and gestured to the living room. "Do you want a tour, or do you want to just hang out down here?"

"I'd love a tour of your house." He stared at the rare furniture in awe. "It seems so big from outside..."

"It kind of is, I guess?" She laughed nervously. "Well, this is the main living room."

She pointed to the left. "That's the bathroom."

She pointed behind the flatscreen TV. "That's the laundry room."

She pointed to the right. "That's the kitchen."

Finally, she pointed behind them both to the two sets of stairs. "The one leading down is the basement, and the one leading up goes to my bedroom."

"Cool."

* * *

During the tour of her home, he noticed small end tables with pictures of smiling animals strewn about. One next to the sink in the bathroom, two on a table in the laundry room, four on the dining table in the kitchen, ten in the basement - although he didn't recognize the villagers - and, as they came up to her room, there were three more on the table next to her bed.

The most prominent one he noticed was one of a yellow duck right next to her pillow.

"Why do you have so many photos in your house?" He asked.

"Oh, these-" she picked up one of a sheep and smiled for a few seconds before turning to him, "-these are the signed pictures of people who I've either befriended or they moved away."

She sat the photo down and strode over to her bed, gesturing to the picture of the smiling duck. "This one is of the very first, and best, friend I ever made. His name was Joey."

"Really?" He was curious now, and sat next to her. "Tell me about him."

"Contrary to what you might think when you see the photo, he wasn't a child." She remininsced, staring at the wall fondly. "He was just a little older than me, and he was such a nice animal. He always sought me out and invited me to his house, or asked to see mine."

"Hmm." He nodded. "You said 'was'. What happened?"

Her face fell a bit. "We were good friends up until Tortimer chose me as the new mayor. While everyone was disappointed in his pick, Joey was one of the only ones who congratulated me and treated me as if nothing had happened. After the ceremony, it took a few months before he was telling me that he wanted to leave. As much as I wanted to beg him to stay, I knew that he'd been in the town a little longer than I had. I let him go."

He noted how she began to look as if she were going to cry. Part of his heart cringed.

"The day before he left, I visited him at his home. He apologized for the mess, but he thanked me for everything." She swiped her thumb across the bottom of her eyelid. "The morning he left, I got a piece of mail thanking me once more and this picture. I was so distraught for a few weeks. I couldn't even look at the photo without crying."

She glanced up at him, and while her eyes looked glassy, she smiled.

"Eventually, I... I got over it." She continued, absentmindedly moving her fingers over the photo's face. "I stopped crying about it and actually put it on my nightstand. It still ached for a while, but now I can think about our friendship without... relapsing."

"That's good." He nodded.

"I'm sorry," she laughed, wiping any other latent tears away. "I shouldn't be crying when you're a guest here."

"No, no, that's alright," he was quick to reply, reaching toward her in a reassuring gesture. "Emotions are good. I'm glad you were able to get past the pain of your best friend leaving."

"I guess." She shrugged. Then, she offered a bright smile. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Um... sure? I guess?" He gave a confused shake of his head. "What do you have?"

"I have milk, fruit juice, water, or coffee." She hopped off of her bed and stood on the soft carpet.

"Um..." he tried to think. Coffee? Nah, she wouldn't make it like Brewster does. Water? Nah, too boring. Milk...?

"I guess I'll take the fruit juice." He gave her a smile and she nodded, quickly telling him to wait there as she skipped towards the stairs.

He waited as patiently as he could, his eyes scanning the rest of her room. He briefly rested his eyes on a book on her shelf, but he decided not to touch it.

As soon as she got back, he handed him the cup and he drank, noting its sweet, tangy flavor.

"Mmm, this is good!" His eyebrows rose. "What's in this?"

"A bunch of fruit, actually." She smiled in delight. "I made it myself! It has apples, oranges, and peaches in it."

"Really good." He complimented, and downed the rest of the cup. "I'll have to get the recipe."

"It's my mother's. Let me know when you wanna borrow it." She replied, sitting back down next to him.

He nodded, the mention of her mother making his own come to mind. "I think my sister still has a few of my mother's recipes for fruit tarts."

"Ooh, cool! I'll talk to her about it." Her eyes lit up, and he looked away, a small smile tugging at his lips at her excitement.

His eyes fell on the signed picture again, and he admired how she could touch so many of the villagers' lives. He'd heard it was hard to get pictures from them, unless it was April Fools' Day and you'd... called out a shapeshifting cat or something, he didn't remember. The fact that she had so many was a testimony to her kindness to others.

He felt a twinge of guilt in his heart. _"What am I doing? I'm trying to steal from a pure-hearted, naive girl!"_

After a few moments, he steeled his gaze and shook his head. _"No. This is something I have to do. If I want to give me and Ace a stable life somewhere where I won't get caught, I have to take her money. I'll do... whatever it takes..."_

* * *

After a few more hours of talking to her, he stood up from the couch and flashed a winning smile. "Thanks for inviting me. I've had a really nice time."

"It was no trouble at all." She gave him a sweet smile, one that made his heart squeeze. "I'll... see you at the birthday party tomorrow, then?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Me and Ace'll meet you there."

They both paused.

Hesitantly, he rose his arm. His hand shook for a moment, but he held it out.

She looked up at his face, shocked. When her eyes met his, he nodded once, sharply.

Slowly, she reached out and grasped his hand, gingerly at first, but when he didn't immediately pull away, she tightened her grip a little and shook his hand gently.

It felt... weird.

He was obviously expecting it, and yet it made him jump, all the same.

After a few seconds, she let go and retracted her arm, almost as if he'd burned her. The unease in her eyes made him force a smile.

"I'll see you at the party tomorrow," he said as he walked out the door and into the night.

It didn't take him long at all to get to his house. He shivered in the cold night air, and when he opened the door and hurried in, Aceline looked up from the book she was reading, startled.

"Took you long enough, I was getting worried." She gave him a half-smile and shut the book, sitting up. "How was your little date?"

"It wasn't a date," he huffed, taking off his winter coat. "And it went just fine."

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Please tell me what you thought. Apologies that it took so long to get to the roses, but now that we've gotten there, it'll start to go much faster. And yeah, I guess I'm projecting a bit by adding Joey, but he's always been my favorite villager. I just had to add him.**

 **Also, fun fact: did you know that the entire file has 20k+ words now? Pretty neat. I'll see you guys!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey, merry Christmas. Sorry I've been gone so long. I've been pretty sick for the past few days, and I've been trying to get ideas. I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Birthday Party**

* * *

"Wake up, Todd, we need to get to the party!" Aceline shook him gently at first, but after a few moments shook him more violently. "Hey, c'mon!"

"Stop, 'm up," he grumbled, cracking one eye open to glare at her.

"Good. Get dressed." She threw some nice clothes at him. When he wrinkled his nose, she sighed. "Cate might not be too impressed if you show up dressed like you're ready for a day on the island or something. I'll take care of the gift. You just get dressed and meet me outside."

He nodded reluctantly, and she smoothed down his hair and left the house.

He shook his head wildly, patting down his bedhead with one hand. He sat up, shivering a bit at the cold morning air, and grabbed his clothes, getting dressed underneath his blanket.

He got out of bed and combed through his hair, brushing his teeth and straightening his collar. Once he was satisfied with the way he looked, he put on his socks and shoes and exited, almost running into his sister.

"That was quick," she commented with a tiny smile.

"I can be fast when I want to be." He shrugged. "Now let's go."

He strode ahead, easily out-walking her. She huffed a laugh.

On their way to the party, they fell into step with Cherry, another villager. She and Aceline talked for a little bit before she sped up, glancing at Todd.

"You know, she's a really good friend once you let her be one." She offhandedly commented.

"I don't know who you're talking about." He rose an eyebrow."

"The mayor." She rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

"Oh." He nodded once. "Yeah, she is."

"Don't play coy. She talks about you all the time."

Todd didn't look at her, staying silent.

"I'm afraid she's just too trusting sometimes." The dog sent him a sideways look. "Especially when it comes to other humans like her."

He let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, she is a little too willing to trust."

"Just be careful, Todd." She stared pointedly at him now. "Be careful befriending her. We've seen her at her darkest once. We don't need that to happen again."

"Do you count yourself in the ranks who like her?" He asked wryly.

She avoided the question and replied, "Just don't say I didn't warn you. When you're done with whatever you feel you have to do, I'll personally plant pitfalls around your house."

He hummed in agreement and she fell behind to talk with Aceline again.

Only a couple of moments later, they arrived at Chelsea's house. After heading inside, everyone burst into cheers and excited greetings.

Catelin skipped over to them with a big, beaming smile. "You guys really made it! Go ahead and give her the present, and have fun!"

Todd barely managed a fake smile, while Aceline patted her shoulder with a grin.

Todd gave Chelsea their gift and only laughed when she mentioned how much she loved it. With his task done, he looked around for Catelin.

He finally spotted her next to Snake, laughing while holding a piece of cake. He was at her side for most of the party, occasionally chatting with her and listening to her conversations with the other villagers.

Aceline noticed him hanging around the mayor and quietly walked away to chat more with Cherry, noticing that he wanted some time with her alone.

"Great party, isn't it?" Catelin asked him, dumping her empty paper plate and plastic fork in the trash. "I always love coming to birthdays."

"Yeah, it's great." He gave her a smile.

They walked around the room.

"So, I was wondering..." He noticed that she looked back and forth between him and Chelsea as she chugged some iced tea while spectators cheered her on. "Would you like to hang out some more tonight?"

"Uh, uh-huh! Yeah! Sure." She nodded distractedly, looking over to see him only half a foot away.

* * *

When at last everyone was tired out from the party several hours later, Aceline and Catelin wanted to leave.

"D'you want me to walk you back?" Todd asked.

"Oh, sure!" The blonde smiled sweetly at him. "I'd really like that."

Aceline gave her a smirk. "Well, I'll see you back at the house, Todd."

Todd gave her a tiny glare. "Yeah. Goodbye."

Catelin gave him an oblivious smile as he led her away. "You two are so close. I'm jealous."

"Nah, you shouldn't be." He shook his head. "It gets tiring having a twin sister sometimes."

She laughed. "I bet."

The walk in the crisp late afternoon air was nice. The slight cold nipped at their cheeks. When he looked at Catelin, he saw her rosy cheeks and felt something weird in the depths of his chest.

"I'm really glad we've been able to hang out a lot more lately," She commented, smiling shyly. "It's been too long since I've had someone to hang out with."

"Doesn't Aceline hang out with you?" He rose his eyebrow. "That's what I'd expect her to be doing while she's out."

"No, not often. She's usually making money." She shrugged. She looked a little sad for a moment, but she brightened up and turned to him. "Anyway, what do you like about the town? Any favorite foods?"

"I don't know." He hummed in thought. "I mean, I kinda like the fruit. It's fresher here than just about anywhere else I've lived."

"You've lived in a few places?" She asked curiously.

"We've... we've moved a lot." He looked uncomfortable at her question. "Topic aside, I like the lychees."

"That's cool." She nodded. "I'll have to plant some more trees, then."

He said nothing in response.

When they got to her house, they stood there for a few moments in an awkward silence.

"Do you still wanna... hang out tonight?" He asked.

She furrowed her brow, as if trying to remember. "Oh, yeah! You did ask me if I wanted to earlier."

"Yeah."

"Sure, I'd love to." She gave him an endearing smile, one that made his heart do more strange things. "How about by the docks?"

"I'll see you there at ten, then?" He asked.

"Sure." She opened the door, but before going inside, turned to look at him. "I'll see you later tonight."

"Yeah, see you then." He smiled at her until she shut the door.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay. I'll try to get the next one out sooner. I'm going on a camping trip this weekend, so hopefully I'll have time to write. Tell me if you liked it. I'll see you later.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hi, sorry it's taken me so long to upload. Happy belated Christmas, and happy New Year.**

 **I've been pretty sick lately, and it completely depleted my drive to write. Hopefully (although this one is pretty short) this can tide you over until the end of January (when I can upload next).**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Efflorescence**

* * *

"You seem more tense today, brother of mine." Aceline commented, arms folded across her chest. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, nothing." He shook his head distractedly, running his fingers through his hair. "It's just... the mayor is really naive. She trusts easily... maybe too easily."

"And so she does." She agreed. She watched him through the mirror as he made some last-minute adjustments to the collar of his shirt. He folded it down again, turning to see it at an angle.

"I paid off our loan again," she said, "and Nook said he'd have the next upgrade done by tomorrow morning."

"Cool, that's, good." He began to unbutton the shirt, seemingly frustrated with it.

Aceline turned as he shrugged it off, tossing it in the closet, into a hamper. He pulled a clean white tee out and put it on, patting his hair back into place.

"It's only January, barely halfway through January." She sighed. "Nobody else has done this to you, not even that one woman."

"Yeah, well she was thirty and engaged to this rich guy," Todd snapped back. "Obviously there was some kinda disconnect between us."

She said nothing for a few minutes.

 _"But you said you truly felt something with her..."_ She thought to herself with a frown. _"Is this not the same situation?"_

* * *

Meanwhile, at Catelin's house, the mayor sat on the couch in her living room, staring blankly at the TV screen.

 _"I was hoping for a good year, but..."_ she thought to herself with a deep exhale through her nose. _"... what if I'm wrong?"_

 _"I mean, Todd. He's so smooth. Nobody can be that smooth while being honest with their feelings."_

Her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. _"As much as I want to believe he's kind to me because he wants to be my friend, I can't help but think that he's hiding something."_

She blinked, reaching for the remote. She shut the television off, rubbing her eye with her other hand.

"Maybe I'm being too paranoid," she sighed to herself. "Maybe I'm overthinking this a little bit... I don't think I'd be that gullible again this time."

She thought of the years past with an almost fond smile as she headed upstairs. When she'd arrived in town, she'd been young, maybe too young to fully understand everything. She'd made friends quickly, sure, but what she'd really been searching for was a companion.

 _"Guess I failed in that respect,"_ she thought solemnly, glancing at an envelope tacked to the corkboard above her bed. "Could it be that I still held onto that silly dream?"

"I'm... still not sure how I feel about him." She collapsed onto her bed, gazing into Joey's frozen smiling face behind the glass frame. She groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Joey, what should I do...? I'm not well-versed in romance. The only guy I ever liked moved away before I could tell him!"

She remembered a conversation she'd had with Aceline earlier. Early in the morning, she'd been going around town when she ran into the noirette.

* * *

"I seem to remember that I promised you I'd tell you about Todd's negative reaction to touching." She said, hand on one hip.

"Oh, yeah, I remember that." The blonde scratched the back of her neck. "Is this something I should know, or is this a secret...?

"Very much not a secret, very much needed to know." She nodded. "All our life, Todd's been somewhat of a... well, I shouldn't get into that now. In short terms, he's had a lot of bad experiences with people touching him. He used to get punched a lot by the other kids at school, and when Dad hugged him, it usually meant he was about to get into trouble." Aceline sighed heavily. "Mom wasn't exactly the best, either. She hardly ever hugged him. When she did touch him, it was a pat on the head or on the back."

"That's some heavy stuff," Catelin gaped in shock. "And that made him hate it?"

"He carries a few... resentments, per se. He's never really liked Mom, and he _hates_ Dad."

"Yeah..." Catelin frowned, guilt tugging at her heart. "So when I hugged him..."

"I don't really know what he was thinking, but it dredged up some bad memories." Aceline finished, patting her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, though. He doesn't hate you for it. If anything, he's probably guilty that he didn't tell you sooner."

* * *

"He hates to be touched..." she murmured, rolling onto her stomach and resting her chin on her crossed arms. "But... but he let me shake his hand when he hung out, even if he looked uncomfortable."

She looked at the picture again. "I bet Cody would've known what to do."

 _"How can I get him to be comfortable with physical contact again?"_ She questioned, closing her eyes. _"Surely he's noticed that I... do I like him? Or is this like with_ him _?"_

She conjured up thoughts of him. When his face, broken into peals of laughter, crossed her mind's eye, she smiled, warm feelings filling her heart.

"I _do_ like him," she decided. "Maybe... maybe he can like me too. Maybe I can get him to like contact again."

With that, she rolled over and sat up. She cast one last glance at a letter on the corkboard above her bed before standing up and heading for her closet.

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah, bridge chapter. I hope you liked it. Please tell me what you thought about it. See you later!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey, I'm back with chapter 11! I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I've been having trouble continuing, but I've gotten my drive back and hope to finish the chapters by March! (I probably won't post all of the remaining chapters in February, but know that I'll have completed it before May!)**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Second Rose**

* * *

Another rose rested in his fingers, much to Aceline's annoyance.

"You're gonna start paying me for those rose seeds," she muttered with a frustrated sigh.

He waved her off and left the house. The sun had set a couple of hours before, and the moon was slowly making its ascent in the skies. The stars were beginning to dot the darkness with their twinkling lights.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, mindful of the rose. _"It's a beautiful night tonight,"_ he thought to himself as he sent a quick glance towards the sky. _"Maybe we'll see the aurora borealis."_

When he first got to the beach, he saw Catelin standing on the edge of the dock, the ends of her white dress fluttering in the winter breeze.

He momentarily stopped in admiration. She'd managed to dress up, and yet she looked so natural.

He snapped out of it and approached. She turned to look at him and she beamed when she recognized him.

"Hi," she spoke softly. "It's a gorgeous night, isn't it?"

"Very." He agreed, handing her the rose. "I got you this."

Her cheeks warmed, and she accepted it, placing it in her hair.

They both sat on the edge, taking their shoes off and letting their feet dangle, every so often dipping their toes in the frigid water.

Catelin pointed towards the sky, where a few constellations had appeared. "Look, there's the Big Dipper! They say that the star over there, the North Star, is what sailors use to navigate."

"Interesting," he mused, not having the heart to tell her that he'd heard it before. "Oh, over there is the archer."

"Yep!" She smiled. "And over here's Pisces, which is also my astrological sign!"

"You're a Pisces?" He asked, now interested. "Cool. Where's mine? I'm an Aquarius, I think."

"Let's see... Aquarius..." Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she trailed her fingers across the sky. "Oh! There's yours, right there! Aquarius!"

"That's... wow." He stared at the bright stars, a smile tugging at his lips. "That's awesome."

"According to the astrology book we have, technically, Pisces and Aquarius are compatible." She replied, sending him a shy glance.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, and it grew colder. Todd shivered, reaching for his shoes, when suddenly, he saw the sillhouettes of crows flying overhead.

"What the...?" He squinted. "Crows? In January?"

"One for sorrow, two for mirth," Catelin slowly recited, her eyes glued to the birds, "three for a wedding, four for a birth..."

He listened with growing uneasiness in his heart.

"Five for silver, six for gold, seven for... a secret never to be told..." She hummed in thought. "Seven crows..."

"That's weird," he joked, trying to lighten the mood, "it's January. Why are crows out and about in January?"

"Some crows never leave," she shrugged. "I remember when I was a child, there was this crow that stayed near our house during winter. We'd feed him, even though we probably shouldn't have, and each winter he'd come back with friends. His friends always left, though."

"Maybe he had unearthly levels of feathers."

"Maybe." She smiled. "It is colder, though. Maybe they had a late start to migration?"

"Are you cold?" He asked. Even though she didn't answer, he gave her his coat.

"Oh, no, you didn't-"

"Please, I want to." He insisted. "I'm fine. I suddenly... got warm all of a sudden?"

She trained an unconvinced look on him, but took the coat anyway. She slipped it on, sighing pleasantly when she felt its warmth. "I swear, you're like a superhuman heater."

They both continued to watch the moon, its soft light shimmering across the oceanic waves.

After a while, Todd broke the silence. "Hey, Cate?"

She turned her head to look. "What?"

"You were about to tell me a story the other day..." he frowned at her when she looked toward the water. "What was it?"

"Which one was I going to tell you?" She seemed genuinely confused. "I've almost told you lots of stories."

"It was when we were... when I was helping you pick bananas. You almost mentioned a name... do you feel comfortable telling me about that, or is that a spoiler for something else?" He asked.

"Oh... Oh! Oh, that." She nodded passively. "I... I don't know if I want to tell you that without... telling you about something else. It's kind of a lead-in to that."

"Okay, I'm game." He leaned back, resting one of his hands on the wood of the dock. "If it's something you want kept a secret, you can trust me. I promise." _"But do you really?"_

She hesitated for a few moments, questioning if this was something she should do. Finally, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and spoke.

"I was a really sheltered child." She began.

Todd got a confused look on his face, but hummed to let her go on.

"And when I left home, I had no idea how the world worked." She opened her eyes and turned to stare at him, some kind of unreadable emotion in them. "I moved to Phemera when I was barely an adult capable of making my own decisions."

He saw a little bit of where this was going.

"When I got here, I immediately paid off my first loan for my house - back then, he actually built your house before you got there - and after upgrading once, I never paid off another loan for the longest time. As soon as I got money, I spent it."

Her eyebrows dipped low in a self-loathing glare at the water. "I got so much furniture, I began storing sets of it away for when I would eventually pay him off to upgrade my house. I got so much clothing, I could go through my closet wearing two different outfits a day for a month and still have some left over. I was a complete mess."

His mouth dropped open slightly, but he didn't say anything. He _couldn't_ say anything. All he could do was stare, stunned, at her.

"I eventually grew too embarrassed for people to drop by my house." She chuckled mirthlessly. "I tended to get angry when animals would drop by unnannounced, and I would always say no if they wanted to come see my home. I can tell people had begun to change their tune about me moving there."

She took a moment to think. When Todd was sure she was done talking, he was interrupted by her continued tale.

"Eventually, after I turned Joey away from coming over, I realized that I had a problem that I had to fix." Her glare softened. "I felt so bad, seeing his face when I rejected him. I didn't want to live here if I was going to be this selfish, stupid person. So I started saving money."

"It was hard at first, but I eventually got the hang of it." She admitted. "I tried my best to stay away from Nook's store, and the Able Sisters' store, and as time went on, I eventually got so used to saving that I could walk right by them and not want to go inside."

He nodded. "That... that makes sense."

"A long time went by, and eventually my house was a pretty good size." Her mouth curled into a tiny smile, and her eyes grew distant. "I begun hanging out with Joey just about every day."

"As I've told you before, one day, Joey came to me and told me that he wanted to leave." She heaved a heavy sigh and turned to look him in the eye. "And as I've told you, I fell into a deep, deep depression for a long while. I regressed and began getting addicted to spending again."

He nodded again, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

She grimaced a little bit. "Well, after he left, I found another human living in town. A boy named Cody."

"At first, I didn't know he lived here, but after Joey left, he found me one day. I was at the cliff, just looking at the water." She continued. "He tried to make me feel better for the longest time... eventually, I guess I kinda snapped out of it."

Todd's eyes narrowed. "Cody, huh?" _"Sounds like a guy I knew back in New Felicity..."_

"Yeah." She wiped her eye with her thumb and laughed. "I guess I didn't know how much I needed him until he helped me get back on my feet."

Something happened in his chest, something akin to his heart cringing inward on itself. Something about her mentioning this guy felt wrong... but why?

 _"He's just her friend,"_ he told himself firmly. _"You don't care, remember?"_

When I'd known him a few months, I found out that I had a massive crush on him." She scratched her neck absentmindedly, the faintest hint of a pink blush dusting her cheek. "I remember that he was really into astrology, and that spurred me to learn all I could about it."

She shook her head a little. "But enough about that scenario. I've been meaning to ask you something."

He realized that he'd been glaring at the dock when he shifted his eyes up to her face. His nasty look dropped, and he regained his normal, cool expression. "What?"

"Would you, I mean, um," she seemed to get terribly unsure about something, her eyes darting away so she wasn't looking at him. "Would you ever be willing to be... more than friends sometime?"

He was a little taken aback by it and showed it by flinching backward. _"She means what I think she means."_

 _"I hope he gets my meaning..."_ she thought desperately to herself as she watched him bite his lip in contemplation.

"Well," he finally replied, "of course I'd love to be more than friends with you. Whaddya say to being... best friends?"

A big part of her was disappointed, but the tinier fraction was elated that he accepted, nonetheless.

"Yes!" She beamed. "Can I- can I hug you?"

Immediately, his knee-jerk reaction was to reply with "No."

When he saw her face drop, he sighed.

 _"Keep her happy, you dolt,"_ he scolded himself. _"That kicked-puppy look is seriously guilting me."_

"I guess I can... let you hug my arm, or something." He mumbled, holding out his left arm as he turned away.

She was stunned that he actually accepted, but she put on a smile and wrapped her arms around it, hugging it to her chest.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed. We finally get more of Catelin's backstory. Tell me your thoughts** **, and I'll be posting the next chapter soon.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'm sorry if this one is super short. I promise, the next one will be a little longer.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Scintilla**

* * *

The next morning had come way too soon for Todd's tastes, and he sat up groggily in his bed when Aceline casually asked, "So, how'd your little date go last night?"

He scowled at her. "One, it wasn't a date, and two, she's my best friend. Work on your lackluster matchmaking, why don't you?"

She rolled her eyes at him, a cheeky grin playing on her lips. "C'mon, you seemed pretty placid last night. Boy, just imagine if she ever found out that her ' _best friend_ ' was just using her for her money. She'd be just _devastated_ , wouldn't she?"

His eyes snapped wide open and his glare intensified. "You'd better not tell her anything, Aceline, or I swear-"

"Calm down, calm down." She snapped. "Honestly, at this point, I don't care whether someone else tells her or not. If you crash and burn, it's not gonna be because of me. I just hope hurting her makes you rethink your values."

She stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind herself.

Todd sighed heavily, getting out of bed. He did hate fighting with her, but it seemed as if all they could do was butt heads nowadays.

"Honestly, I don't see what the problem is," he muttered to himself as he pulled out a laptop that he'd bought at Nook's. "We have good money now. We don't live in poverty anymore. Why is she so mad about a little swindling?"

 _"She's mad because it's not regular swindling,"_ the nagging voice came back again, scoffing at him. _"You're using a girl's feelings for money. That's low, Todd."_

He tried to squelch it, but the guilt came back as he checked one of his favorite chatrooms and saw that Catelin was active.

He almost considered talking to her, but after a few moments of watching her interact with some of the other guests in the chat, he closed the window, powered off the laptop, and decided to go for a walk to clear his mind.

He got dressed in some warm clothes and headed through the orchards, noticing that groves of apples and perfect oranges led to a corner of town.

He followed them all the way down to the cliffs, where the trees made a circle around a beautiful fountain. He walked under a well-kept, fragrant archway of flowers and, brushing off the snow on one half, sat down on a nearby bench, just watching. The way the sparse winter sunlight hit the water looked like crystals falling into the clear water.

The breathtaking sight of the sky meeting the sea, along with the comfortable rushing water of the fountain, made it easy for him to think.

His conversation with the girl echoed in his mind, her bashful face when mentioning Cody making his gut roll. Something about her mentioning him made Todd feel almost sick... but why? Why was he getting so worked-up over a girl that he'd met only a couple of weeks ago?

 _Cody_ saved her. Todd almost mocked her words in his head. _Cody_ helped her get back on her feet. _Cody_ helped her.

After a few minutes of self-loathing, and quite a few hateful thoughts towards this mysterious human boy, he heard crunching footsteps.

He looked up right as Catelin walked through the trees.

"Todd?" She asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I was going for a walk and then I decided to follow the orange trees, and then I found this place."

Her confused frown melted into a bright smile. "Really? I'm surprised you haven't found it earlier."

 _"I'm surprised too,"_ he mused to himself.

"It's funny." She chuckled a little, cleaning the snow off and sitting beside him. "I come here to get a break from everything. It's easily one of my favorite spots in town."

Something warm coursed through his chest, and he looked away to hide from her the corners of his mouth turning upwards uncontrollably.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Catelin broke it with, "You know, Cody liked this spot too."

There it was again. Todd frowned to himself, his chest tightening in jealously. Why couldn't she just stop talking about him?

She seemed to notice his sudden sullen mood and asked, "Whoa, hey, what's wrong? Did I upset you?"

He turned back to face her, her uneasy expression making something akin to guilt eat at his heart.

She stood up then, walking over to one of the apple trees. She picked a couple of apples and handed one to him, taking a bite out of hers as she sat back down.

He quietly thanked her for the food and began to nibble on it.

"You know," she broke the silence once more, making him turn, "I really am glad to have you as my friend. I know it hasn't been a long time since you moved here, but I don't think I've been this happy around someone since Joey lived here."

He mulled over her confession. There was that stupid guilt again. This time it took wide, gaping bites out of his heart, making him feel even worse.

 _"Why did she have to say that?"_ He moaned miserably. _"Dang it, is she purposefully trying to make me feel like trash?"_

After a few moments, he pushed it away.

She, thankfully, seemed more oblivious to his feelings this time. "What's your favorite spot in town?"

Now this question was a challenge. He puzzled over it, trying to think of anywhere he felt relaxed in town. Despite how calming this place was, he furiously rejected it. He refused to have anything to do with _Cody_.

Finally, after taking another bite of his apple, he swallowed and replied, "Now that you mention it, I... I don't think I have one."

She hummed, eyebrows knitted together as she frowned at the ground. After a few moments, she looked back up at him with a determined grin.

"Well, in that case, I'll just wait until you do." She declared.

At the sight of her pleasant face, his stomach jumped. He turned away just as heat rushed into his face.

* * *

 **A/N: I'll keep posting when I have the time. Right now, I have loads of time. I'm hoping to get a certain chapter out by Valentine's Day, if that tips you off to anything... even though it may not be exactly what you're thinking it'll be. Anyway, please let me know what you thought about it. See you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: You get more Aceline in this chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Inure**

* * *

"-hm, but I'm not too sure about this. What do you think?" Cherry peered up at her with big, curious eyes.

Aceline replied, perhaps a bit too quickly, "I say go for it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal!"

The villager paused for a few moments. Finally, she smiled. "You know what, I'll take it!"

She turned to Reese. "I'll be taking this one!"

"Ok!" The llama chirped, ringing up the piece of furniture.

Cherry looked up at Aceline. "Let's see... I owe you 4,320 Bells, right?"

She gave the girl her money and stepped away.

"Thank you." Aceline patted her head. "Reese, I'm heading out!"

"Have a good day, Aceline." The pink llama responded cheerily. She waved her off as Cherry continued to walk around.

Once the chilly January air hit her face, she shivered. "Let's just get this over with. Let's see... next stop is the T&T Mart, I think."

She touched the mask she'd put on her face and shook her head. It was just her luck that she had to have a run-in with bees, wasn't it?

She walked up through town, trying to avoid as many of the animals as possible. When she got to her destination, she headed right for the medicine, nearly dropping the Bells in her haste to put some of the ointment on her face.

When at last she put on the medicine, she sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Tommy!" She called as she walked out.

When she got back to town, the first person she ran into was Chelsea.

"Oh my goodness, what happened?" She gasped when seeing the human. "Did you get stung by bees?"

Aceline nodded, chuckling sheepishly. "Yeah... guess I couldn't outrun them this morning."

Chelsea shook her head, giving her a worried look. "Be more careful, okay?"

She bade the animal goodbye and continued to walk.

Nearly every villager in the village engaged in conversation with her, especially when they saw her stings. Even Snake shivered a little when he saw them, and told her not to "shake trees willy-nilly," or so he'd gotten out before hurrying away.

After seeing a majority of trees barren, she decided to go seashell collecting instead.

She trudged along on the sand, picking up anything she found. Once or twice she contemplated shaking the banana trees, but when she'd found three empty ones in a row, she decided against it.

She'd just about gotten a full load of shells when she heard voices above her on the cliff. She glanced upwards and was surprised to see both Catelin and Todd talking on one of the benches. Quickly ducking out of sight, she flattened herself against the cliff wall and began to listen in.

 _"I wonder what they're talking about..."_ she mused, glancing up for a few moments. _"What's her reason for talking with him...?"_

It didn't seem like much of a conversation at first, but then she heard Catelin begin speaking again.

"You know, I really am glad to have you as my friend. I know it hasn't been a long time since you moved here, but I don't think I've been this happy around someone since Joey lived here." Something in her words seemed... almost sad.

One of her fists clenched, her eyes glued to the sand beneath her feet.

 _"He'll be lying, whatever he says to that,"_ she sarcastically thought to herself. _"Don't you dare say a word."_

She didn't bother listening in to the rest of it, instead slumping down the wall to sit on the sand.

 _"Fake, it's all fake,"_ she sighed. _"I can't keep standing idly while he lies to her face like this. She's my friend... I don't want to see her cry over him."_

She heard Todd's voice, although it was low and mumbled. New anger surged through her heart, and she glared at the sky.

 _"Why does he keep deluding himself?"_ She wondered. _"Catelin is too sweet to steal from; surely he knows even that. I mean, heck, he's stolen from worse people before! I just- I wish that he could feel something other than anger or greed for once in his life. I wish he could see what he means to her."_

A few more moments went by. She heard Catelin giggling and decided to stand back up.

She brushed the sand off of the back of her pants and thought for a moment. _"Should I let them know I'm down here...?"_

She looked up again, seeing the two eating apples together.

 _"... nah,"_ she shook her head. "Perhaps I should let them have their moment, as sad as it is that he choses to lie to her."

She slunk away, picking up some more shells before leaving the beach entirely.

The minute she was home, she checked their mailbox to find a letter. Marked with neat cursive handwriting was both her and Todd's names. No return address, only one name: Mom.

She sighed, pocketing the letter. She'd read it once she was inside.

Entering the house, she immediately opened the letter, scanning its contents quickly. Another letter, another plea for them to come home, another 'I love you', and... more and more money.

She took out the thousand Bells and put the letter back in the envelope. She'd have to hide this.

"Mom," she sighed heavily, feeling a lump forming in her throat. It seemed tough to swallow now, and she knew that if she didn't distract herself, she'd begin weeping. "Mom, I wish- I wish you were here."

She tried to shake away the visage of her mother's concerned face and went outside, the bitter cold stinging her eyes.

* * *

It was done. She'd saved away the letter, hopefully for another time, hopefully when Todd realized and rectified his wrongs. Or maybe hopefully if he decided to return home once they'd gotten enough money.

"I'm such a horrible older sister," she whispered to herself, one cold hand rising to cup her burning forehead. The headache that was forming only served to be irritating right now. "I can't even force myself to stop his behavior."

 _"Aceline, darling, why didn't you tell us earlier?"_ Her mother's disappointed voice rang in her mind, fresh as if it were yesterday.

 _"Because you wouldn't have believed me!"_ Her own voice, younger and angry, snapped.

"Todd always was the more favored of both of us," she sighed. "I guess it's because of that... I couldn't do anything back then."

"Look at me," she laughed mirthlessly. "Here I am, following my younger brother as he tries to pillage the world. And for what?"

She shook her head harder. "No... I'm a failure as an older sibling. I couldn't stop him then... and... and I'm not stopping him now."

Tears dribbled down her cheeks, and she tugged her scarf closer to hide them as they dripped her neck.

She glanced out at the sea from the cliff, seeing storm clouds on the horizon.

"I should go to the island," she murmured, turning, "to cool down and make some money."

* * *

 **A/N: I can't wait to get into the later chapters! I'm sorry if it seems a bit slow right now. The ball will get rolling really quickly after this! Let me know what you thought about this chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey, here's another Aceline chapter! I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Girls' Night**

* * *

Later that day, Catelin stood at the edge of the cliffs overlooking the beach, a white dandelion in her hands. She watched absentmindedly as the breeze blew some of the seeds away.

"I wonder..." she hummed to herself. "When is Aceline's birthday? I don't think she ever told me..."

"Let's see. Todd said last night that he was an Aquarius, which means that his birthday should be around..." She scrunched up her nose, trying to remember that page in the book. "... December... no, that's Capricorn... January... 20, through February 18? Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Oh, I hope I don't miss it!" She exclaimed suddenly, as the wind blew the rest of the seeds away. "They're so new, and it's so early in the year..."

Just then, she saw Kapp'n slowly pull into the docks with his boat, and she beamed when she saw Aceline with him.

She ran down to the beach just as she stepped off the boat and thanked him.

"Aceline!" She called, and when the girl turned, she skidded to a stop and grabbed her shoulders. "Quick! When's your birthday?"

Aceline, although stunned, managed to stutter out "Uh, I think it's today...?"

Catelin gasped. "Oh no, oh shoot! C'mon, we have to celebrate! I'm so sorry you had to work on your birthday like this!"

Still stock-still, still wide-eyed, Aceline could only mutter, "H-huh?" As Catelin grabbed her hands and began to drag her away.

"C'mon, let's go do something fun!" The blonde insisted with a big grin. "It's your birthday! As mayor, I hereby demand you come with me to celebrate it!"

She finally snapped out of it and could only laugh and try to keep up as Catelin ran through town. "Okay, if you say so."

When they got to Catelin's house, she threw the door open and almost dove inside. "Alright. My room's up the stairs, go pick out a cute outfit."

"A-are you sure?" Aceline stammered, her eyes flickering between the stairs, Catelin, and back again.

"Go!" She shooed her off with a wink. "Don't worry, you don't have to worry about giving it back to me! Just pick one and take it."

She shrugged, muttered "Okay?" and went upstairs.

Catelin followed her up quickly afterward, and when she threw open the doors of her wardrobe, she sat on her bed, awaiting Aceline's choice.

Aceline sifted through the clothes, eyes narrowed in concentration.

After searching for a bit, she found a black-and-blue corseted shirt and skirt combo. She pulled them out, looking to Catelin for confirmation.

"They'd look really cute on you!" She smiled brightly, standing back up. "In fact, hold on, I have something that'd look great with them."

She rummaged through the shoe rack, pulling out blue pumps and black stockings.

"Here." She handed the socks to her and set the shoes on the floor. "I'll be downstairs. Go ahead and change, and then come downstairs so I can see."

"O-okay." Aceline gave her a tiny smile, to which the girl giggled and skipped away.

* * *

After a little bit, Catelin heard the sound of shoes clacking against wood. She turned to see Aceline coming down the stairs, wearing the outfit.

"Oh my gosh, 'line, you look amazing!" Catelin gasped, rushing closer. "Here, turn around, lemme see!"

Aceline slowly turned in a circle, and the blonde jumped up and down, clapping her hands rapidly.

"You have great taste!" She beamed at her. "What do you think?"

"I... I feel great, actually." Aceline looked pretty happy with herself, even if she felt a little embarrassed at the attention. "I left my clothes on your bed, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine." Catelin gave her a hug. "Okay, I'm gonna go change! Be right down."

The noirette watched her go. Once she'd disappeared up the stairs, the girl slipped off the pumps and walked over to the couch, sitting down.

Catelin's room was pretty decorated, she'd discovered, with pictures of villagers everywhere. She'd tried not to snoop, but she'd found an envelope pinned to the corkboard above her bed with vaguely familiar handwriting.

She hadn't opened it and had merely wondered, gotten dressed, and left, but now she was beginning to realize things about her.

"She really is well-liked," she murmured to herself with a smile. If the pictures and conversations from the other villagers meant anything, it meant that they all really loved her.

Then the memory of what they were doing here flickered through her mind again, and she bit her lip, trying to push away her feelings.

Finally, she heard her coming down the stairs, and turned to see her wearing a citrus gingham dress with yellow buckled shoes and white stockings.

"Well?" She twirled around, and the skirt of the dress flared up a bit.

"It looks cute." Aceline stood up and went to the door.

"Great! Let's go." Catelin waited for her to put her shoes on before taking her hand and nearly jogging outside.

"Where are we going now?" Aceline asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We're going to Club LOL! Have you been there yet?" The blonde asked, eyes sparkling.

Once Aceline slowly shook her head, she laughed.

"You're gonna have so much fun!" She exclaimed. "It's that one spot beside Nook's. They've got live music pretty much every night!"

"Do they? Huh." The girl hummed in thought. "Sounds like a good place to spend weekends."

"It is." Catelin turned back to her with a grin. "It's great."

They reached Main Street quickly enough, and when Catelin opened the door to the club, the pulsing music suddenly grew louder.

She winced a little bit, but she didn't have to cover her ears. "Is it always this loud?"

"Is it loud?" The blonde wondered. Then, with a concerned glance, "I'm sorry, should I tell him to turn it down?"

"No, no, no, it's okay." Aceline shook her head. "It's just jarring at first."

"I felt the same way when I first came in here." She agreed. "It takes some getting used to. I think tonight is... 8-bit night, if the sign was right."

"Do they have different nights?" The noirette asked.

"Yeah." Catelin nodded briefly. "It varies. Sometimes, they have 8-bit night, sometimes they have normal nights, and then on Saturdays, they have K.K. Slider. He's awesome!"

"Oh yeah, I have heard of him." Aceline grinned. "I almost convinced my brother to go to one of his concerts one time while we were living in New Felicity."

"Oh! Speaking of Todd!" Catelin suddenly seemed to remember something and she stared at the girl with a determined gaze. "When's his birthday?"

Aceline blinked, folding her arms across her chest. "Um... tomorrow?"

"Oh shoot, I have to get him something!" She exclaimed, gripping her hair and tugging. "What does he like?"

"Well, I think he still likes nice clothing." She hummed, drumming her fingers on her arm. "Like I said, I've only tried to convince him to go to a K.K. concert, so I don't know if he'd like any of his music."

"Hm. Well, I can try." The blonde shrugged. "For now, let's dance! This is my favorite song!"

* * *

After a long night of dancing and laughing, the two stumbled out of Club LOL and collapsed on the bench at the cliffside.

"Oh boy, that was-" Aceline giggled, resting her head against Catelin's shoulder, "-that was the most fun I've had in a long, long time."

"I'm glad you enjoyed our trip!" Catelin, although still catching her breath, giggled with her. "Was it a good birthday?"

"Yes." She closed her eyes. "This has been a wonderful day."

Catelin stayed silent, although she rested a hand on the girl's head, absentmindedly running her fingers through her sweaty hair.

She checked her watch and frowned. "Ah... it's eleven."

"We've been here for hours." The noirette commented, letting out a heavy sigh. "I should get back home. Although he doesn't show it often, Todd's probably getting pretty anxious."

"Yeah..." She trailed off, getting to her feet. She helped Aceline up, the two walking home slowly.

They made minimal conversation, the excitement now sobered. It was rather cold, the breeze making the two shiver and huddle closer. They stopped first at Catelin's so that Aceline could change into her other clothes. It didn't take longer than ten minutes, as Aceline was still nervous about what Todd would say when she got home.

When they neared the twins' house, Aceline broke away and thanked her once more.

"I had a great time," she said, her mouth turning upwards into a smile. "Thanks again for taking me."

"No problem!" Catelin chirped. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

The two hugged and went their separate ways.

After checking her wardrobe at home, Catelin remembered that she kept quite a few men's outfits at her room in the museum. She saw Aceline walking ahead of her, possibly to get a gift for her brother.

The two went different ways when they both got to Main Street, Aceline towards some of the shops, and Catelin towards the museum.

She picked out a tuxedo and went home to sleep the night off.

* * *

The next morning, early enough that T&T Emporium wasn't open yet, Catelin awoke and began to put together her gifts for Todd. She grabbed the tuxedo she'd gotten the night before and walked to Main Street.

When she got there, the store was just opening. She greeted Timmy and went for the gift wrap, getting a card while she was there. She found a copy of K.K. Bossa and bought it, deciding to mail it to him. She wrapped the tuxedo and wrote him a cute note, sticking the CD in with it. She mailed it and went back to town, grabbing a peach from one of the trees surrounding her home.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry if it seemed a bit hasty. I lost some of my determination and I kinda struggled through this one.**

 **And... yeah, when Todd said older by 'twenty minutes', he wasn't joking. Well, kinda. Aceline was born on January 19, and Todd was born after midnight on January 20, only about twenty-three minutes after her, making them twins with different birthdays. Weird tidbit of info, but I guess it could be considered a fun fact? Anyway, please let me know about this chapter.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: And now for Todd's birthday chapter. I know, I've been ship-teasing Aceline/Catelin for a couple of chapters, but I can promise you right now that their relationship is pretty platonic. Well, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Todd's Birthday**

* * *

"Todd, wake up."

The noiret scrunched up his nose and opened his eyes, blinking away his bleary vision. "What is it?"

"C'mon, get dressed." Aceline threw some clothes at him. "Get dressed, it's your birthday. Catelin's gonna meet us by the mayoral tree in the plaza."

He rolled his eyes but sent his sister a smirk, "Had a nice birthday party with your bestest friend the mayor, big sis?"

"Shut up and get dressed," she snapped, her cheeks flushing. "Yes, I had a nice time at Club LOL with her. Happy?"

"Of course I'd be happy that my beloved twin had such a nice party." He cooed, chuckling when she turned to shoot him a glare. "You know I'm just teasing, right?"

"When do you not?" She huffed. "I'll be waiting outside. Just get dressed quickly."

He was still laughing to himself when she shut the door behind herself. He got out of bed, putting on the nicer clothes. It wasn't much, just a custom-made white button-up shirt and some navy pants. He made some final touch-ups and, putting on some snowboots and going outside, followed Aceline as she walked.

She paused, stopping at two cherry trees and picking some. She handed him his half of the fruit and they ate as they walked, spitting out the pits before they got to the plaza.

Catelin was waiting there, clad in a pretty gray dress and boots. She smiled brightly as they approached.

"Hi guys!" She greeted excitedly. "Happy birthday, Todd!"

"Thanks," he smiled back at her and stopped just short of the tree. "I assume you planned this?"

"Of course!" She puffed up her cheeks a little bit, looking adorable as she scrunched up her nose in slight annoyance. "Why wouldn't I properly celebrate a new arrival's birthday?"

"Calm down, I'm kidding." He chuckled at her face.

" _Aaaa_ nyway, I got you a gift!" She presented him a wrapped box from behind her back, and he took it with a thank-you.

He opened it under both girls' gaze and broke into a beaming smile when he held up an expensive-looking tuxedo.

"Whoa, thanks!" He exclaimed. "How'd you know I liked pricey stuff like this? This looks brand-name!"

Aceline sent the mayor a sideways wink and she giggled.

"Oh, you know," she waved it off with a giggle, "a little birdie told me you may be interested."

He knew she was talking about his sister, but he acted like it was all her. "Still, I really like it. Thanks."

She blushed pink, avoiding his eyes. "Can I... can I hug your arm?"

His pleased demeanor faded a little, but he still faked a smile. "Sure."

He held it out as far as he could, and she hugged it tight to her chest for a moment. The action made his cheeks flare up with heat, and he could faintly hear Aceline trying to smother her laughter.

He glowered at her and all she did was grin at him, exaggeratedly winking.

He sighed soundlessly, awkwardly pulling his arm away as she let go.

"I got you something too." Aceline handed him a mango.

She snickered a little bit when he looked up at her, clearly confused.

"Is that...?" He trailed off, looking from her to the mango. "Um... thanks?"

"I'm joking, little brother." She pulled out the real present, an envelope with a present enclosed.

He opened the envelope and pulled out a CD. He read the letter quickly and sent its writer a tiny smile.

"A CD?" He asked, reading over it. "Oh, it's by that guy you tried to take me to see that one time."

"Mhm." Aceline nodded.

"So then... what am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"That's where this comes in!" Catelin chirped, giving him yet another wrapped present.

He looked at the two with mock exasperation, but opened it anyways to reveal a tape deck.

"Oh, cool." He nodded briskly. "Thanks, I'll definitely give it a listen."

He turned to Catelin. "Say, when's your birthday?"

"Hm? Oh, it's not for a long time yet." She laughed. "March 13."

"I'll remember that." He smiled softly at her and made her flush.

"Oh, no, you don't need to." She shook her head vigorously.

"I want to." He insisted, stepping closer. "It's only fair that I return the favor, isn't it?"

"Oh my goodness, will you two just kiss already?" Aceline mock-gagged. "Seriously, I could cut the romantic tension between you two with a butter knife!"

The two suddenly found themselves burning a bright red, stumbling away from each other. Catelin seemed to be finding the cobblestone extremely interesting in that moment, vacillating between gazing at Todd almost longingly and burning a hole in the ground with her stare, and all Todd could do was send his twin sister a death glare.

* * *

After the mini-party was over, Todd was at his home, setting up the tape deck. Once he found the perfect spot, he stood up and admired his work.

He found the CD and popped it in, sitting on his bed as he waited for the music to begin. As soon as he heard K.K. begin to play, he started bobbing his head to the beat of the music.

 _"Hey, this is pretty good."_ He thought to himself. _"Catelin has good judgement."_

He closed his eyes, getting into it. When at last the song ended, he stood up, pausing it. He stretched, yawning.

He exited the house, nearly tripping over a haphazardly-dropped bag of bells.

He checked the amount and his eyes nearly bulged. 99 thousand of them! And right at his doorstep!

When he looked up, he didn't see anyone around. Still, he determined that Catelin must've accidentally dropped it from her pockets.

"Dunno how in the world you can _accidentally_ drop 99 thousand," he shrugged, pocketing it, "but oh well, happy birthday to me."

Then a thought popped into his head. "Hey... instead of spending it, I haven't given Ace a birthday present yet. Maybe she'll take it...?"

He went back inside and waited for Aceline to get back home.

It took about an hour or so, but when she walked in the door, he jumped up off of his bed.

"Hey, Aceline, happy birthday." He greeted, pulling out the bag. "Sorry I didn't get you anything yesterday. Would this make up for it?"

She stared at it for a moment before turning suspicious eyes up to his face. "Where did you get this much money?"

"Oh, _y'know_ ," he shrugged, stuffing one hand in his pocket, "I earned it doing things here and there."

She sighed. Man, he was good. If he wasn't her brother, and if she hadn't lived with him her entire life, she probably would've fallen for that one. Unfortunately, she knew him way better than that.

"Todd, c'mon," she rolled her eyes and gently shoved the money away, "I wasn't born ten minutes ago."

"Obviously," he shot back with a wry grin. "Otherwise, we'd have the same sign."

She shot him a glare. "I know you're lying to me about this money, but... I'll take it anyway."

She held out her hand.

"Ace, I know what you're gonna do with it." He frowned at her now, withholding the money just out of her reach. "Don't give it to Catelin."

"You and I both know that just taking it is wrong." She shook her head. "It's stealing and it's wrong. I can't do that to Cate."

"It's just 99K! It's not gonna hurt her any if it's missing." He protested. "Just- don't give it to her. Pay our home loan or something."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'll take it, but I'm not paying our loan."

With that, she snatched up the bag of money and whirled around, storming out of the house.

* * *

 **A/N: Just as a heads-up: the next chapter will be pretty dialogue-heavy. I don't know when I'll post it yet, but hopefully either tomorrow or the next day. Tell me what you thought!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey, guys. Hopefully I can get the next few chapters done today, but I'm still doubtful that I'll be able to post the one I want on Valentine's Day. Let's hope I can!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: The Money Problem**

* * *

Later in the late afternoon, once the excitement surrounding the money had largely dissipated, Todd went outside to get out of the house for a while. While walking, he bumped into Catelin near the pear orchards.

"Oh- hi, Todd." She gave him a weak attempt at a half-smile.

"Hey," he frowned when he noticed her mood. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I lost some money earlier and I've been turning the town upside-down for the past couple of hours looking for it." She sighed heavily, checking another branch.

Immediately, guilt began eating at him again. Half of him wanted to tell her about his discovery, but then... that was a lot of money! A lot of money to pay off their loan with! A lot of money to store away for future spending!

A silence rested between them for a few moments.

Finally, Catelin huffed, not finding it in the tree. She turned to look up at Todd. "Could you help me look?"

"Huh?" He was startled out of his thoughts by her voice. "O-oh, yeah, I can."

"Thank you so much." Relief flooded her face and she pointed in another direction. "It would be a big help if you started looking in the apple orchard over there."

"Aye-aye, captain." He saluted her. "I'll do my best to find it."

He walked off, hands in his pockets, missing the grateful look she gave him before she turned back to the trees.

He walked to the orchard near his home, glancing back every so often to make sure she wasn't watching. Then, when he felt safely out of sight, he leaned against a tree, plucking an apple off the branch and chomping down.

"Like I'm gonna make Ace give back the money," he scoffed to himself. He felt only a twinge of guilt in the back of his mind, but he quickly shoved it back. _"This will help us. It'll get us closer to our goal."_

He stood in his spot for quite a while, just eating apples and watching the villagers walk past. When he began to feel the cold through his pants, he went inside to warm up and get mittens for his frozen hands.

When he came back out, he decided that a good enough amount of time had passed that Catelin would believe that he'd actually looked for the money. So off he went to the pear trees, looking around. He called her name a few times, but when she didn't answer him, he gave up and walked to the beach.

"If anything," he mumbled, glancing across the shoreline, "she must've gone to the island to get it back."

When he looked to where Kapp'n usually parked his boat, he nodded. It was gone.

 _"Darn it, now I feel bad."_ He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets to warm them again. _"It was wrong to lie, but... but the money will help us."_

He walked back to his home, only to find Aceline coming out of it.

"Hey, Aceline." He greeted. "Did the mayor go to the island?"

"Yes, she did." Aceline glanced up at him, frowning. "I told her to go there."

"You didn't-"

"Oh would you calm down about that?" She snapped. "I didn't tell her about your dirty little lie, but I did tell her that I remembered that I'd accidentally left 99 thousand buried near the trees. She's probably digging it up right now."

As he realized what she'd done, anger slowly began to cloud his mind. His fingers clenched, almost painfully, and he stared at her with as much hatred as he was capable of directing at his sister.

"What is your problem?" He yelled, throwing up his hands. "That money was helping us! Why would you just- why would you give it away like that? What is _wrong_ with you?"

"What's wrong with _me_?" She asked incredulously. She, too, looked absolutely livid. "What's wrong with _you_? She has been nothing but nice to us ever since we moved here, and all you want to do is abuse it!"

She continued, cutting off whatever he wanted to say. "I went out and made 99 thousand this morning. I felt bad about cheating her, so I put my half in the bank and buried her share at the island, where she'd be able to find it!"

"See, that's just it!" He got closer, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to grab the collar of her shirt and shake her. "That's exactly why we had to move in the first place! Because you're too soft! It's a dog-eat-dog world out here, Ace. People like you wouldn't last _a second_ out there! If you hadn't been so _good_ , we'd still be living at home!"

Aceline stepped back against the door, too stunned at his outburst to react for a moment. Then she lowered her head, her entire face burning a bright, angry red. She grabbed his arm, and, throwing the door open, dragged him inside.

The second the door slammed shut and she whirled around, she began spitting words rapid-fire, too angry to keep her filter.

" _You listen here_ , _little brother_ ," she began with a hiss, "you have no idea how tough it's been for me. Ever since you started stealing, I've had to bend over backwards just to keep you out of trouble."

"When you stole that expensive tie? I was telling Mom that it wasn't you, that I'd accidentally taken it." She stared at him hard.

"When a sketch of your face ended up on the news, when the police issued a warrant for your arrest? I was telling Dad that it must've been some mistake. Why did I do this? Why did I continue to cover for you?" She yelled, gripping her hair.

Todd tried to say something, but she cut him off by holding her hands up in front of herself.

"As your older sister, moreover, as your older twin, it was my responsibility to make sure that you came up right." She ranted, a lump forming in her throat. Angry tears began to form in her eyes, but she made no move to wipe them away. "All Mom and Dad wanted was for you to be a good person! All they wanted was for you to have a future! All I wanted was for you to live happily! Well I guess I screwed up somewhere, because look where we are now!"

When the tears began to roll down her cheeks, and when she began to sob, Todd tried to calm her down. He held out his hand. "Hey, hey, Ace, c'mon-"

"AND ANOTHER THING!" She screamed, making him flinch away. " _Stop calling me that!_ You know how much it bothers me when people call me Ace! You know, and you keep teasing me about it! Most of the time, I get you're just joking, but it's been really rubbing me the wrong way for quite some time now!"

"I'm- I'm sorry, I-"

"I've covered for you for way too long if you think doing this to someone as sweet as Catelin is acceptable." She spat, pointing a thumb at his chest. "Sooner or later, the police are gonna catch you. Sooner or later, she's gonna see that you don't even like her. And when that day comes, I won't be there to bail you out! I want you to face the consequences of your actions like a _man_!"

She continued to sob, angrily swiping her tears away with her sleeve before storming out of the house. She left Todd inside, shocked still for a moment.

She stomped through the snow, trying to go somewhere, anywhere where she could calm down quickly.

On the way to a secluded spot on the beach, she bumped into Catelin.

"Hey, Aceline!" She cheered, giving her a big smile that made her heart feel like it was being twisted. "I found the money you were talking about! It was right where you said it was-"

She finally saw Aceline's red, puffy eyes and the tear tracks down her cheeks. She gasped, grabbing the girl's shoulders. "Whoa, hey, what happened? Are you alright?"

Aceline didn't answer right away. She just gave the girl a good, long stare, one that made her slightly uncomfortable. When she was about to ask what happened, again, the noirette gave her a surprise hug, holding her tightly for a few seconds before letting go and walking away.

The blonde stared after her, confused and concerned.

"What happened...?" She wondered aloud. "I wonder if Todd's okay."

She hurried to his home, knocking before cracking the door open and peering inside.

She saw him angrily shoving around boxes, muttering to himself. She finally went inside, shutting the door quietly.

"Todd...?" She called softly, catching his attention. "Is everything okay?"

"What would you know?" he spat without looking at her. "Everything I do is _wrong_ to you, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Now louder and slightly hurt, she took off her shoes and stepped out of the doorway.

He paused before turning, his eyes going wide.

"Oh, Catelin," he stuttered, his cheeks flushing pink. "I-I'm so sorry... I thought you were Ace."

"It's okay," she tried to smile at him before sitting down on a nearby chair. "What happened?"

"We fought," he stiffly replied, pushing a box back into its original position. "It's been..." he slumped over here, "... it's been a bad day."

She sighed quietly. Somehow, she'd figured that something had happened between them. Aceline wasn't really one to cry, and if she did, then Catelin guessed that it would have something to do with Todd.

"Do you mind if I...?" She looked over at him, questioning.

"No," he immediately answered. Then he seemed to think about it, his eyebrows scrunching together into a frown. "I... ugh. I don't know."

He went over to his bed and sat down, covering his face with his hands.

He could feel fresh tears forming, but he refused to cry. He refused to show weakness in front of her.

She slowly got up from the chair and sat next to him. When he felt the bed dip from her added weight, he looked up, her concerned green eyes meeting his anguished slate-blue ones.

He choked back a shuddery sigh and muttered, "... I guess touch doesn't sound so bad right now."

She nodded slowly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He stiffened a little, but he forced himself to relax.

The two of them sat there for the longest time. The tight feeling in his chest became more and more unbearable by the minute, but he desperately tried to keep the tears at bay. When Catelin began rubbing comforting circles on his upper back, he broke. A tear rolled down his face faster than he could wipe it away, and he made a noise that sounded closer to a whimper than a sigh.

"It's okay." Her voice was low, almost to a whisper. "Don't be afraid to cry. Let it out."

He shook his head stubbornly, but the tears kept coming. "I- I can't," he whispered.

"Why not?" She asked, leaning closer.

"Because-" his teeth were clenched, as if it were a painful effort, "-because crying is weakness. Crying is failure."

"You haven't failed in anything," she insisted, voice firm. "You're one of the strongest people I know. You've gone through yet so much... yet it doesn't seem to affect you. I... I really admire you for that."

His eyes closed. "I... I don't deserve that," he confessed.

"Why not?" Her voice sounded hurt.

He couldn't answer her. His heart was aching, something he hadn't felt since...

He looked up at her and, for a moment, he saw _her_ , the blonde ringlets framing her pale, thin face. He blinked, and the image was gone, replaced with younger, fuller cheeks and sun-kissed blonde hair pulled back.

"I'm a horrible person," he replied, fresh tears bubbling in his eyes.

"And you're saying you deserve it less than I do, even though I've done horrible things when I was a child?" She retorted gently, giving him a wry smile. "Todd, we've all done awful things. We all have things from our pasts that make us cringe about them years later. It doesn't mean we don't deserve forgiveness."

* * *

The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon outside, the snow glittering in the dimming light.

Catelin tore her eyes from the window to gaze at the sleeping boy rested against her shoulder, his face nestled comfortably in the crook of her neck. She shifted her hold on him, her right hand coming up to settle in his hair.

He'd been crying for a while, she noted, and he'd probably fallen asleep before she got done humming Stale Cupcakes to calm him down. Her fingers stroked absentmindedly through his soft black hair.

Even while asleep, he looked tormented. His brow was slanted into a slight frown, his lips in a tight line.

 _"I'm a horrible person,"_ he'd told her. Vulnerable and scared, he'd tried to discredit any good thing she had to say about him.

"Todd," she sighed, looking him over. In just the right spot, the light made the tracks on his cheeks shine.

Carefully, she twisted him so that he wasn't against her. His eyes, while closed, seemed to narrow more at this, but once she lay him down on his bed, he relaxed.

She slowly pulled back his covers and tucked him in, making sure his shoes were off before tucking the blanket snugly around his neck.

She stood back, just staring at him for a few moments.

Something caught her eye in the corner, and she spied the tape deck they'd gotten him earlier that morning. She smiled amusedly when she saw that K.K. Bossa was still inside. She turned the volume down low enough to where it wouldn't wake up, turned it on, and, with one last look, turned out the light and left.

* * *

 **A/N: Oof. Next chapter will be pretty short for this story's standards (I think). Tell me what you thought.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Here you go!**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Before I Met You**

* * *

The rest of January passed by with little to no interaction between the twins. Their morning began with Todd waking up alone, Aceline already gone out to the island, and he would sit on the bench overlooking the sea on Main Street. It would end with Todd going back home to bed, and Aceline coming in late at night after selling all she had.

Catelin found herself growing more and more concerned about them by the day. It had been two weeks already, and all they did was do their speaking - if any at all - through her... if they even saw her.

Todd spend a good chunk of his time up on Main Street, and whenever Aceline wasn't at the island, she spend her time at the beach below Cody's special spot, just staring at the water.

It made her feel awful, but what could she do that she hadn't already tried? She couldn't keep trying to get them to talk it out forever. She had things of her own that she had to try and pay off.

Ankha had mentioned something about a police station the other day, and how she felt like the town would be a better place with it there. There was something about the glint in her eye that made her uneasy, but eventually she agreed to ask Isabelle about it.

She'd talked to Isabelle that same day, agreeing on building a modern-styled police station near the campsite near the train tracks. She was told that Officer Copper would be staying in her town once the station was complete.

Once Isabelle had gone back to the town hall, Catelin found herself wandering towards Main Street. Her mind was in a fog, but all she knew was that she had to talk to Todd again.

She looked to her right and, far-off, there was the bench, and a single dark sillhouette.

She swallowed hard and walked over to it, patting off the snow and sitting next to him.

He merely glanced at her, his lips twitching upwards for a moment, before looking back at the vast sea.

Neither spoke for a long while.

The silence seemed so awkward now, ever since his birthday - she vaguely wondered if him falling asleep on her had made him distant.

Finally, right when she opened her mouth to say something, his voice, low and contemplative, cut her off.

"I wasn't very liked as a child." He said, still looking straight ahead. "Like, at all."

Her brow furrowed and she frowned, nodding at him to go on.

"My parents- well, they were useless." He chuckled mirthlessly. "Always working, never home. When they were, it... it didn't feel like we were a family. Aceline practically took on the role of a mom for me when we were growing up."

"I guess to make up for that- that- that sense of un-belonging, I resorted to being a delinquent." He went on, glancing at her for a second. "I would always be subtle about it, but I caused a lot of trouble as a kid. My parents didn't think that of me. Back then, I thought that they were too stupid to see how awful I was."

Catelin shook her head slowly.

"Aceline was the one always bailing me out of trouble." He said, glancing up at the sky. "She wasn't well-liked either, but... whenever I told her about what I did, she would tell me off and then try to get me out of it. Call it pity, I guess. I always thought that she was trying to prove a point or something."

"I'm... I'm sorry," her voice came out smaller than she wanted.

"Don't bother to be." He waved it off carelessly with a heavy sigh.

"But why?" She persisted with a deeper frown. "Why don't you want sympathy?"

He thought about it for a moment before turning to her, eyes hard.

"I don't want you to waste your energy feeling sorry for what I did in my past." His words almost seemed... planned, or something? Maybe she was being paranoid. "I care about you too much to make you worry about me."

Her cheeks flared with heat, and she looked away sheepishly. "Stop, you're too sweet to me."

He studied her carefully, a tiny smile of amusement on his lips.

"I feel really bad for ignoring you all this time, and for... what happened," he said, his own face growing warm. "How about we meet for a drink at the Roost tomorrow night? Talk things over?"

"Sure, that sounds great." She looked back into his eyes, giving him a mischevious smile. "Maybe you can tell me just how you can drink his coffee straight out of the pot while we're there."

He chuckled. "Maybe, or maybe I want to keep my magic to myself."

They shared a laugh about it.

Finally, he checked his watch and stood up. "I have to go. What time do you want to meet?"

"How about five?" She asked, getting to her feet.

"Sounds good." He nodded once, briskly, and bade her goodbye. He walked off, and although his shoulders were relaxed, his heart was not.

Catelin stared after him, trouble of her own beginning to sadden her. _"Maybe he is mad about what happened."_

* * *

 **A/N: Hopefully last chapter's length made up for this one's. Tell me what you thought about it.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. I'm hoping to post up to Chapter 19 today, so be on the lookout!**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Laotong, the Third Rose**

* * *

Later that night, Catelin sat at her kitchen table, cup of coffee in hand. She sobbed, the tones of Two Days Ago only fueling her low mood.

"I'm such a bad mayor," she cried, lowering her head so much that the ends of her bangs almost dipped into her cup. "Why can't I solve this?"

It hurt. No, it stung. She was supposed to be this important, powerful person. She was the leader of a town. Why couldn't she solve a simple problem like getting siblings to reconcile?

"Why is this so hard?" She yelled, moving her cup out of the way so that she could slam her forehead on the table.

She lay it there, her eyes clenched shut, grinding her teeth. She was in agony, her insides twisting painfully as she slipped further into despair.

 _"What if I just... what if I quit?"_ She thought to herself. _"What if I just quit, move to New Felicity... surely they wouldn't be mad if I moved out quickly enough."_

When she rose her head again, her eyes found the smiling photo of one of her friends hanging on the wall. A dog's portrait was next to it, the villager smirking into the camera.

Her wall was full of these pictures. She had so many, she had to begin using her basement for them.

Slowly, her tears tried. She remembered happy times with each one, even though some of their names were beginning to fade.

"That's right..." she mumbled, wiping her eye. "That's why I do this."

 _"As mayor, I solemnly swear to do my best in every duty!"_ Her voice, energetic and happy, came back to her mind as clear as day. _"I promise not to shirk on my responsibilities, and I vow to stay here for as long as I need to in order to make this town prosper. If that means forever, then I'll do it!"_

Isabelle had laughed, patted her on the shoulder, and said, _"I admire your enthusiasm, Mayor Catelin! I hope you stay here for a while."_

"I promised..." she whispered into her coffee, clenching her fingers tighter around the porcelain.

She rose the cup to her lips, finally finishing her now-cold beverage. As she stood up to place the cup in the sink, she heard a knock at her front door.

"In a minute!" She yelled over her shoulder. Quickly filling the cup with water, she wiped her hands on her pants and raced to the entrance, opening the door, out of breath.

"I really don't think you should do that," commented Aceline as she stepped inside. She shook the snow from her boots before removing them at the door. She waited until the blonde had shut the door to start talking. "Hey. Sorry for coming in so late."

"No, no, it's okay. I had nothing happening anyway." Catelin laughed, waving it off. "Do you want some coffee? I just brewed some."

"I'm good." Aceline shook her head, following her to the couch. "I came here to apologize. It was wrong of me to keep ignoring you."

"It's okay, I understood." The blonde replied, giving her a wry smile. "You wouldn't have wanted to make Todd believe that I was the 'middle man'. I got it."

"No, no, you don't understand." Aceline was insistent, grabbing the girl's shoulders and holding her there. "I left you alone because... well, I guess it was my guilt that kept me from saying anything."

"About what?" Catelin asked, a confused frown on her face. "About your fight?"

Suddenly, she realized. She kicked herself when she did. "Oh... he didn't tell you."

"Didn't tell me _what_?" Catelin asked exasperatedly.

"Never mind. Forget about that." Aceline pulled her into a tight hug. "I missed you."

Warm, fuzzy feelings filled her, and she smiled, hugging the noirette back. "I really missed you too. It was boring not hanging out with you."

"I'm really sorry." She reiterated with a sad look. "I didn't know what else to do except go to the island."

"It's _okay_ , Aceline." This time, Catelin laughed a little. "I do the same thing when I'm upset. It's fine."

"On the subject of the island, though, I managed to get enough money to add a basement to the house." The grin on her face made a swell of pride go through her heart. "Once we pay off our next loan, I'll be adding it."

"That's awesome!" She clapped, a happiness shining in her eyes. "I'll have to hang out with you and decorate it sometime."

"Maybe tomorrow?" The noirette asked.

"No, I'm afraid I can't. I have a date with Todd at the Roost tomorrow night." Upon seeing the upset look on her friend's face, Catelin added quickly, "But- but I'll do it the day after, if you want!"

There was a certain hardness to her eyes then, as if they were steel. Her mouth was drawn into a thin, tight line, and she folded her arms across her chest.

"Catelin, when I tell you this, I want you to listen and take notes." She began, her carefree mood suddenly gone. "You need to be careful about him."

"O... Okay?" She replied, confused. "Go on."

"I'm serious. His feelings about you are something to be wary of." She repeated, her frown deepening. "Todd's had a lot of trouble keeping steady relationships before. I don't want to see you hurt."

"I'll keep that in mind." As she nodded her head, it started to make sense. He seemed constantly on-guard around her when they first met, and it wasn't until they spend time together under the stars that she really saw him begin to open up. But with the fight he and his sister had on his birthday, she could practically see him rebuilding the walls around himself. Perhaps he was ashamed of something?

The girl put a hand on the mayor's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "I'm only warning you because somehow, you remind me of me." She smiled, a crooked line from cheek to cheek. "You are just like how I used to be - you seem confused, you're lost, and maybe you're scared."

She checked the time and sighed. "I've gotta get home. Think about it, okay?"

Catelin could only nod as she said goodbye and left the home.

 _"What did she mean?"_ She asked herself desperately. _"What's going on with them? And why am I not in the loop about it?"_

She grunted as she got off the couch. "Maybe I should check my mail one more time before bed," she decided.

As soon as she stepped foot out in the snow, she heard a little pinging noise from her mailbox. She opened the lid and pulled out a letter, a rose hanging out of it.

She frowned when she looked at it. "What the...?"

She shut the mailbox and took it inside. Once she was in the living room, she sat back down on the couch and, pulling out the rose, set it on the table. She opened the envelope with a knife from the kitchen and slipped out the paper.

Catelin,

Hi. Um, sorry, I'm not that good at writing letters. I wanna apologize for the way I acted. I felt pretty stupid about you walking in on me after my fight with Ace, and I unfairly took it out on you. I've been worried that you didn't like me anymore, but... well, anyway, I have something important to say tomorrow night. Please wear something nice.

-Todd

Hmmm.

Her eyes narrowed in thought. _"Could this be what Aceline was talking about? Was he just worried that I'd hate him?"_

Kissing her teeth, she put the knife back in the kitchen, took the rose and letter, and went up to her room. She placed the rose in one of her baskets near her end table and put the letter in a drawer.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, I'm excited! I'll have the next couple of chapters done by tomorrow and I'll be posting Chapter 20! Tell me what you thought of this one.**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hey, another short one. I'm sorry for the short chapters so far. I hope the next one (again) makes up for it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: Wherewithal**

* * *

The next morning came and went slowly. After tossing and turning all night, unable to get her and Aceline's conversation out of her mind, she finally got up, got dressed, and went to attend the grand opening ceremony for the new police station.

If she looked like a mess, nobody said anything about it. She'd tried her best to get rid of the dark bags underneath her eyes and had picked out some of her best clothes. Once the ceremony was over - and after getting a firm welcoming from Officer Copper - she decided that she needed to get a makeover.

She went to Shampoodle and ordered her usual - a light blonde in a party-style bun. All through the process, she tried to relax, the familiar feeling of the hairstyling machine doing its job almost soothing.

When she was done, she paid Harriet and left, heading back home. On her way back, she drew close to two villagers in a conversation. Against her better judgement, she listened in, lingering just long enough to catch the gist of it.

"I heard that Todd guy won at least twenty thousand off of a couple of people the other day," one of them muttered. " _Twenty thousand_! In a single day! Something's not right about that."

 _"Could that be the 'troublemaking' he was talking about?"_ She wondered with a frown. _"Is that all? Just tricking people out of money?"_

"I swear he's planning something!" The other shook their head in anger. "I don't know what yet, but he'd better stay away from the mayor with his trickery."

"Right?" The first villager agreed. "One of these days, I'll have to get into his house and have a look around. He probably has something hidden in there."

Catelin, disturbed by their conversation, left quickly.

"What should I do about this...?" She murmured, pinching the bridge of her nose. _"From just that conversation, he sounds like an awful person. Not the type I'd be comfortable living with. But... but when he's with me, he's so... he's so kind."_

 _"He did have a troubled childhood,"_ she noted to herself, _"just the same as me."_

 _"Except in his, he actually got noticed by his family,"_ a snide voice in the back of her mind remarked. _"He had something that you'll never have, even if he doesn't want it."_

She tried to ignore it and just kept walking. Deep down, though, she felt as though the voice was right.

 _"I need to get ready for our date."_

Right above her, partially hidden by clouds, a single crow flew past.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far away, Todd sat on his bed, his notebook sitting on the bed before him. His fingers tapped at the worn material, his eyebrows slanted over his eyes in concentration.

"That's another step down." He said, crossing off another sentence with a pencil. The tip paused at the end of the sentence, "Make her think that you desire her above all else." Technically, he hadn't expressed that specifically, but he figured that he was pretty close. She knew, at least, that he cared enough about her to not bring up the past...

... or did he?

His stomach did flips when he thought of how he would eventually break the news to her. His heart clenched when his mind conjured up an image of her face, broken and sad. He wasn't supposed to feel anything. He was supposed to be as business-like as usual - cold, calculated, uncaring.

But when his hand stilled over where his heart was, he felt something entirely different.

He tried to focus his thoughts on the job ahead. "Proclaim your love for her" was the next one to be completed.

As foolproof as this had proven before, he felt strangely nervous going into it. It was almost like that first heist he'd pulled at ten years old. His fingers still shook, his mind in a jumbled mess.

Catelin was practically sunshine personified. For the most part of his time in Phemera, although he'd been there for a little over a month, he'd seen her with smiles and laughter. A complete 180 from him, as far as he was concerned. He was storms and darkness, and she was sunny summer days and lemonade.

And she- how could one person be so _nice_? In the month he'd been there, he'd begun to feel more relaxed around her than he'd been around his friends back at home. Heck, he was more tense around his sister than around her! Granted, his sister had the ability to go to the police at any time and confess to harboring a known criminal, but she hadn't. Yet.

As much as she'd been nice, he'd seen the signs she displayed. She had harbored a crush on him as obvious as an apple in the snow. That girlish crush had somehow grown. As Aceline had pointed out to him again and again, she genuinely cared about him. If he hadn't been so focused on his goal, he would have probably stopped to actually date her.

Too bad she was in the way of the prize, he mused with a heavy sigh. And that prize was worth way more than love... right?

He was so close to getting what he wanted- no, what he _needed_. It was far too late to back out of it now.

* * *

 **A/N: Still doubting, I see. The next chapter will be posted tomorrow. Tell me what you thought!**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Happy Valentine's Day! You get possibly one of the most 0-100 Real Quick chapters in this book! Enjoy!**

 **(Note: If it still says that I last updated on 2/13, please ignore it. I posted this chapter early this morning in my time zone.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Mamihlaptinatapai, the Fourth Rose**

* * *

The door to the Roost opened with a jingling of the bells above it, catching the attention of a blonde young woman sitting at the bar. A couple of villagers looked up, but quickly lost interest and went back to their drinks.

She turned to give him a tiny smile as he approached. "Hey, you made it."

"Sorry I'm a little late." He chuckled sheepishly, handing her a vibrant orange rose. "I lost track of time trying to find where I planted a patch of these."

" _You_ planted roses?" She giggled, thanking him for the flower. "That's a surprise. I'd think that Aceline did it."

"Half right." He sat next to her, resting his elbows on the counter. "She planted the yellow ones, I planted the red ones, and we cross-bred them."

"Still counts." She blew gently on her coffee and then took a tentative sip.

Todd placed his order with Brewster, his usual - Blue Mountain with no milk or sugar - and waited.

"So what did you do today?" She asked him, her bright grass eyes moving to look up at him from the rim of her cup as she sipped again.

"You know, the usual." He shrugged. He thanked Brewster as the pidgeon handed him his cup. He only blew on it once before tipping back his head and chugging the whole thing.

Catelin stared, open-mouthed, wide-eyed, as he finally let out a satisfied sigh, wiped his mouth with his hand, gave the cup back to Brewster, and paid for it.

"Once again, I ask you." She breathed deeply and sent him a half-hearted glare that looked more like a pout. "How the _heck_ can you do that?"

He smirked at her, winking. "I'm magic."

She huffed. "I call hacks."

"What did you do today?" He asked, shifting back to their conversation.

"Well, I finally got another addition to the town added," she recounted. "I went to Shampoodle and did my hair again, did a little watering around town... you know. Basic town stuff."

She desperately wanted to ask him about the conversation she'd overheard, but she held her tongue, especially when he nodded in reply.

His heart was beating faster, and it wasn't just the coffee. His nervousness nearly caused him to confess about the plans right there, but he swallowed down the words and instead focused on moving on.

"What do you usually get here?" He asked instead, breaking the silence.

"Hm? Oh, I think it's a mocha with lots of milk and three sugars." She tapped her chin in thought, frowning down at the almost-empty cup. "... yeah, I think that's what I get. I never remembered past when he asked me to work here."

"Cool, cool." He watched her gulp down the rest of hers.

She flashed the bird a smile and handed him the cup and the required amount of bells. "Thanks again, Brewster. I'll be coming in to work next Monday."

He dipped his head in acknowledgement. "... Coo. Thank you."

This was it. His hand twitched, and he slipped off the stool to get down on one knee in front of her.

When she turned and looked down at him in surprise, he went over what he was going to say briefly. Hesitating, he slowly reached for her hand and held it loosely in-between his.

"Catelin, ever since I came here last month, you've been nothing but good to me and my sister." He began. "And over time, I've begun to feel something for you... something that I haven't felt with anyone else."

 _"Else, Else,"_ a mocking voice whispered in his ear, but he forced the thoughts away and clenched her hand tighter.

"Catelin, I know it's kinda cheesy to be doing this in a cafe, of all places, but..." he took a deep breath and looked back up at her, trying not to notice the tears building in her eyes. "... would you be my girlfriend?"

The blonde covered her mouth with her free hand. The other villagers in the cafe had turned to see what was going on. A couple of them awed, and others looked on in disbelief.

"Todd, I..." She whispered. "I- I don't know what to say!"

"There's only a couple of things I can think of," he chuckled nervously.

She clenched her eyes shut for a moment, wiping the tears away. When she opened them again, she beamed at him.

"I thought I'd never be saying this to anyone," she admitted, reaching down to hold his hands in hers. "But... but- yes, I will-"

Right in that moment, the door burst open and Officer Copper looked around wildly before his sights stopped on the two humans. The noise startled the patrons of the cafe, and Brewster jumped backwards, accidentally dropping a mug that he'd been cleaning.

"You!" He bellowed, leaping for the boy, who was, at this point, shocked still. "Finally, after three months, I finally tracked you! You are under arrest for robbery in the second degree!"

"What- what's the meaning of this?" Catelin gasped. "What are you doing with him?"

Copper turned his hard eyes on the mayor. "Miss Mayor, about a year ago, this criminal here got into a lot of trouble with the law, and I was assigned to track him down and bring him to court to be sentenced. Unfortunately, around December of last year, I lost him. The trail on him went cold, and I was forced to explain to my superiors that he had disappeared."

"Well lo and behold," he continued, yanking on the cuffs in emphasis, "after that police station was built here, someone tipped me off about a suspicious person living in town. Thankfully Phemera has such upstanding citizens."

Todd looked up at the cop with the nastiest glare on his face, but when he glanced at Catelin his face fell when he saw how horribly despaired she looked.

 _"Just like you knew would happen,"_ the voice was back, hissing snarkily at him.

Her eyes were glassy and as her back shuddered, she rose an arm to wipe at her face. She began to weep quietly.

"C-Catelin, I-" Todd tried to explain, but as soon as he began speaking she jumped off of her stool, racing from the cafe.

The door banged shut behind her, leaving only the silent staff and patrons, an angry police officer, and one heartbroken Todd.

"You're coming with me back to the station," Copper spat, yanking him to his feet.

Todd grunted in pain, turning his face away so that no one would see how close he was to breaking down.

Curiously, as his eyes roamed across the counter, he noticed that the rose he'd given her was gone. All that was left of it were a couple of petals on the ground.

* * *

 **A/N: Dun dun dun. I probably won't update again until March, so until then, I leave you with this.**

 **(Yes, the name that the voice said was Else, as in Ehl-seh, not the word 'else'.)**

 **Tell me what you thought of it!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Hey! I hope you guys didn't mind the month-long wait. I had to get this in as a project, and luckily all I have to do is finish the last couple of chapters. I'll be uploading nearly every day until I finish, so be prepared for that.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21: Onsra, the Fifth Rose**

* * *

"I can't believe it," Catelin wailed against Aceline's chest, "I _finally_ find a boy that likes me and it turns out that he's a _wanted man_!"

"I'm sorry," the noirette murmured with a sigh.

"You knew, didn't you?" For a moment, the girl snapped at her in an outburst of rage. "You knew about this! You set me up!"

When she saw Aceline's face shift from comforting to saddened, she immediately realized her mistake. "Oh... oh, I-I'm sorry. I thought, y'know, since you're his sister..."

"I would never, ever betray you like that." Aceline shook her head firmly, cupping her cheek with one hand. "You're my best friend. I know that might not mean as much coming from me now that you found out about Todd... but..."

"I don't know if I can fully trust him again." Catelin shook her head, teary-eyed.

"I understand." Aceline breathed a humorless chuckle. "Honestly, I haven't looked at him the same way ever since his problems with Else, but..."

She bit her lip. "I _had_ been keeping one thing from you, and I'm sorry. For the past year, I've been trying to hide Todd from the law. It's terribly illegal, and I'm sorry if it makes you see me differently."

"You have?" Green eyes wide, the blonde stared at her. "I guess that makes sense in context."

"Yeah. Ever since we left our home town." She smiled wryly. "I've had no ill will towards you. All I wanted was to keep my baby brother safe, but... I guess that was the wrong choice in the end."

"No, I-I understand that." Catelin nodded. "I'd want to keep my loved one away from prison too."

The two stayed quiet for a while. Aceline held the younger girl to her chest, clenching her eyes shut as if it would block out the pain.

"If you want the full extent of it, you should come with me to talk to him." She finally said.

The blonde thought for a few moments. Yeah, before today, she'd been looking forward to spending time with him, but... but after his arrest, she felt nothing but numb. She wanted nothing more than to sleep it away, to ignore the fact that it ever happened.

"... Yeah," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

"Do you want me to spend the night?"

"Please."

Aceline nodded, getting up from the couch.

The two of them made their way up to Catelin's room. Without any light aside from the lava lamp beside the computer, it felt too dark and lonely. Catelin flipped the covers back and the two of them shimmied between them, leaving plenty of space betwen them.

As long as it took them to fall asleep, the night passed by quicker than Catelin would've liked.

When the morning sun began to peek through the window, Aceline, who faced it, cracked her eyes open. She yawned quietly, trying to allow the blonde a few more moments of sleep.

She got out of bed, ducking behind the screen that Catelin had put up in one corner so that she could change.

As soon as she walked out, brushing her hair, she saw the girl sitting up, stretching.

"Morning," she mumbled, her voice rough with sleep. She cleared her throat, swinging her legs over the edge.

"Morning." Aceline nodded to her. "Would you like me to make coffee or something?"

"No, that's okay." Catelin shook her head, and the noirette had to stifle a laugh at the way her hair stuck up on the back of her head.

The two got ready quickly, and before they knew it, the clock read eleven AM. They stepped outside, grabbed a couple of apples, and ate them on the way to the police station.

When they got inside, the warmth greeted them before Copper did, fanning across their cold cheeks as if being caressed by a mother's hand.

"Good morning, miss mayor." Officer Copper nodded curtly to both of them. "What can I do for both of you?"

"I'd like to see Todd," Catelin replied quietly.

The dog seemed a bit hesitant, but when he glanced to Aceline, she slowly nodded her head.

He sighed. "Very well. Please leave your valuables here and follow me."

Catelin turned to her friend, taking off her watch and handing it to her. She followed the policeman to the back of the station.

It was darker in the holding cells. The moment the door opened, Todd rose his head to stare at Copper with a burning dislike.

"You have a visitor." Copper's voice was flat, as if he, too, despised him. When Todd stood up and came closer, his eyes widened when he saw Catelin walking in.

She stood still, eyes blank, trying to keep her emotions at bay.

When Copper quietly left the cells, the dam broke.

She glared at him, the tears springing to his eyes making him flinch backward.

" _Why_?" She asked. " _Why_ did you do it?"

"Cate-"

"Tell me why." She snapped. "The truth this time, if you please."

"I-I didn't-" He stuttered, holding his face in his hands. "I-"

"Why?" When her voice rose in volume, he grabbed the bars.

"Calm down." He weakly ordered, sitting on the cold tile floor. "Please, calm down and I'll tell you."

"No, tell me regardless!" She fell to her knees, hiding her face as she began to sob quietly. "Why did you come here? Why would you choose such a peaceful place to cause trouble?"

He was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, listening to her hiccup and cry.

Finally, when her glare broke and she could only stare helplessly into his eyes, he shook his head.

"Come closer, and I'll tell you." He said, defeated.

She nodded, crawling closer to the bars.

He shuffled with something behind himself and pulled out a yellow rose, handing it to her through the bars. "Here. I asked Copper to pick it for me this morning."

She just looked at it, the bitter memories of yesterday flooding back. She wanted to crush it, to snap it in half and yell at him some more, but instead she took it gingerly, setting it on the ground next to her leg.

"You want the truth?" He asked. "Fine, I'll tell you everything."

* * *

 **A/N: Expect the rest of the story over Spring Break! Thank you all for being so patient!**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Oof, this is gonna be pretty emotionally-charged. Sorry in advance that it's less than 1K. See you at the bottom.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: The Truth?**

* * *

"First off, it's not fully what you think." He began. "I started having a change of heart halfway through, and... it made it difficult to keep up my charade."

"I don't understand," she replied, arching one eyebrow.

"The night I fought with Aceline," he continued, "I realized that I cared about you way more than I'd originally thought. I began to feel like I couldn't go through with my original plans anymore."

"But... before I get too into that," he sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair, "I need to tell you about the day we moved here. You remember that we came through on the nine-thirty AM train on January second. When we got here, even though Ace wanted to start over, I was content on living the way I always have - lying and cheating to get money."

 _"So it was true,"_ she thought in despair, her face falling. _"The villagers were right. And all this time, I didn't..."_

"And that's when I came across Colton." He hugged his knees to his chest, looking away for a moment with a sad frown. "We had a conversation and the topic of money came up. I guess you know where this is going."

She wanted to deny it. _"No."_

The voice in the back of her mind told her that _yes, yes, you do know where this is going_ , but it took her all she had to try and shut it up and feign innocence.

"He told me that... that you had amassed at least a billion dollars." He stared at her hard. "Basically, you were rich. Richer than anyone else I've ever dealt with."

She refused to look at him. _"Todd, stop."_

"I have a notebook full of different schemes to pull." He began to tick them off on his fingers. "Ones involving a bait-and-switch, finding a liquid trail with a blacklight, false accomplices, you name it. I've done almost everything."

 _"Todd, please,"_

Another droplet rolled down her cheek. "I-I thought..."

He sat silent, looking up at her with something like solemn regret in his slate eyes.

"I thought... that you really loved me." Her voice cracked. "I thought that-"

She trailed off with a heavy sigh. "Did you ever even feel anything? Did you even feel bad? Even after Joey? After Cody? After Tortimer?"

He winced. The names were hot acid, and he was melting.

She waited.

"Well, it wasn't easy to feel anything in the very beginning." He said slowly. "But you grew on me. Things had just been building up for so long... I felt so bad about leading you on like this, that when Ace and I fought, I guess I started feeling everything ten times harder. I didn't think that I could keep going. I'm deeply sorry for everything that I've done."

Her eyes narrowed, and she struggled to her feet, grabbing the rose on the way. Pain began to stab at her hand, and when she looked down at her open palm, she saw that the thorns from the base of the stem had punctured her.

 _"Irony,"_ she thought bemusedly.

"It's too late to have any changes of heart now," she replied. "I... I have to leave."

With that, she turned on her heel and trudged away, leaving Todd in the cool, dark cell.

"I'm going to the island," she told Aceline when she got back to the lobby. She accepted her watch back, shoving the rose into her hands, and disappeared without another word.

The noirette watched her go and, with a heavy sigh, turned to Copper. "May I please go see my brother?"

He nodded, and she only looked down at the stem for a moment, noting the slight red tint to it, before setting it on a shelf and following him.

* * *

Catelin handed Kapp'n the money, turning to look at the town for a fleeting second, the wind blowing through her hair, before climbing into the boat.

A lone crow flew high above her, its sorrowful cry echoing in the winter air.

* * *

She leaned against the wall, arms folded across her chest. "Well, are you happy?"

He only glared at her. "Did you sell me out?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I can't say who did, because I don't know."

"Please, get me out of here." He desperately begged, clasping his hands together. "I can't go back there. Not yet."

"That's not my decision to make, Todd, and you know it." She shook her head, her face darkening. "The only thing I can do is try to convince the mayor to plead on your behalf."

"Please." He didn't look angry or sad; there was a strange seriousness that hardened his eyes into slate-blue gemstones.

She didn't answer for a few moments.

Brother and sister stared each other in near-identical eyes.

Finally, he heaved a heavy sigh, folding his arms and gazing at the floor. "... I didn't want it to turn out like this. You know that, right?"

"Of course I do," she admitted quietly. "But you're gonna have to work really hard if you want to make things right."

* * *

 **A/N: More drama, yes, and Catelin really doesn't like Todd right now, yes, but everyone gets a happy end. See you tomorrow, hopefully.**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Hey, guys. It's the next day for me, so here's the next one.**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: Viraha, the Sixth Rose Bouquet - Roses Six Through Eleven**

* * *

The warm, summery breeze swept across her face, caressing her cheeks and tousling her hair, a few strands breaking free from her ponytail. Her arms were folded across her chest, the wet material of the swimsuit clinging to her and sending a chill through her body.

She sat in the water, just gazing up at the clouds. Though she was blissfully warm in the tropical heat, her heart was numb and her throat felt tight.

She heard slow, shuffling footsteps behind her and the rhythmic thumping of a cane hitting the ground.

"Catelin, always good to see you." Tortimer's voice, hoarse and deep, made her turn around. He was smiling, his hands shaking as they always did.

Her lips twitched into a tiny smile as she got to her feet. She wiped the sand off of her legs and greeted him quietly. "Hi, Tortimer."

"Is something wrong? You look like you've been having a rough go."

Her expression dropped, and she kicked at the warm, white sand. "... I guess."

The old tortoise patted her shoulder with one hand and she helped him sit down on the grass at the center of the island. She slumped to the ground along with him, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Mind telling me what's wrong?" He asked, giving her a sidelong glance. "Perhaps this old tortoise can impart some wisdom on you."

She shrugged, resting her chin on her arms. "There's this boy that I liked. I guess he only moved to town just so that he could steal from me. He lied to me. Just like..."

She shrugged again, this time burying her face in her cold arms. She felt her face getting wet, but she ignored the sensation in favor of trying to push back the stinging in her eyes.

 _Beat._

When she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, he wasn't even facing her direction. Instead, he seemed preoccupied with the flowers she'd planted, gently twisting the petals of the yellow cosmos in his trembling fingers.

After a few moments of admiring their bright colors, he finally picked one, examining it closer to his face.

"He reminds me of my son," he finally replied, turning his head to look at her dead in the eye.

"Pardon?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My son," he repeated. "I remember once, when my son was younger. He was about dating age... say, maybe nineteen or so. One night, he came to my home and asked if he could stay the night. Apparently, his wife had realized that he was cheating on her and that he'd lied to her face about it. They had this large fight that ended with a temporary separation that lasted a couple of weeks."

She tried to stay silent. _"Exactly how does this apply to my current situation?"_ She thought to herself.

"It took quite a while." He chuckled to himself. "I let him know that I was disappointed, and I urged him to talk it out with her. He was stubborn for the longest time, telling me about 'oh, you wouldn't understand my problems' and whatnot. Finally, though, I drove him to his house and told him that I wasn't going to let him leave unless he talked to her."

"And?"

"They talked it out. Quite thoroughly, too." He nodded once to himself. "They fixed their issues and their relationship grew deeper."

Her lip stuck out, and she frowned at the viridian grass. She dangled a hand, letting a good fistful slip in-between her fingers and clenched tightly.

"That's a nice story, but... how will that help me?" She asked. "I don't know if I'll ever forgive him... unlike your son, we weren't that deep into any relationship before I found out. I wasn't his... girlfriend, or anything." _"Not anymore."_

Tortimer didn't answer right away, simply watching her hand tighten and rip the bundle of grass right out of the ground. When she opened her hand, a stronger wind blew most of the blades away. Only a few stuck to her hand, trapped by its dampness.

He clucked his tongue with a heavy sigh. "The omst I can give you is a temporary relief, then. Help me up, would you mind?"

She nodded, getting to her knees and grasping his hands, pulling him to his feet. She handed him his cane and he thanked her, adjusting his glasses.

"Now," his eyes twinkled merrily, "would you like to go on a tour to get all of that aggression out?"

* * *

Bump-thunk. Bump-thunk. Bump-thunk.

Todd lazily threw a ball against the wall of his cell, watching it bounce to the ground and back to him.

He glanced at the clock on the wall again, pausing in his throwing. Only 2:26 PM.

He sighed quietly, turning back to the wall. clenching his fist around the ball, he threw it with more force than he'd intended. It shot against the wall, towards the ground, and right for his face.

Gasping sharply, eyes clenched shut in reflex, he managed to barely catch it before it hit his nose. He opened his eyes and let out a long, relieved breath.

The door slowly opened and Copper poked his head in with a displeased frown.

"Sure sounds like you're having a fun time in here," he remarked sarcastically.

"Sure is," Todd shot back, too emotionally-exhausted to fight.

"I just spoke to my superiors," The policedog continued, hands folded primly behind his back as he stepped in. He shut the door with his foot, eyes not leaving the boy. "In about a week from today, you're coming with me back to Weselburg."

His eyes opened wider, now more alert at the name of his hometown. "Weselburg? But- but in a week, it'll be two days before Valentine's Day!"

"Not like you'd have any valentines here anyway, now would you?" He asked, pointedly staring at him.

Todd slumped back against his bed, a gloomy frown pointed at the policedog. "Don't mention that."

"Not my problem that you messed up the only chance you had with the only girl to give you the time of day, Todrick Benton." He shrugged his shoulders loosely.

The noiret grit his teeth at the mention of his full name. "Please... would you reconsider? At least could you push back the date?"

"Boss's orders." He snapped, turning away. "No."

With that, and a promise of bringing back dinner in a couple of hours, he left Todd alone in the cell, fists clenched.

Angrily, he threw the ball again, only this time, it was able to smack him in the eye.

...

A while later, Copper came back, a tray of dinner in his hands. It looked plain compared to what he'd been eating before, but at least it looked more edible than what he'd been living on for the past few months.

"Here, eat this." He slid the tray through a crack in the door. "Any requests for the night?"

Instead of retorting with his usual 'bite me', or 'let me go', he paused. He looked up at the guard with an unreadable expression.

"I'd like a bouquet of roses." He said. "Six _red_ roses."

The guard looked taken-aback for a whole two seconds. "Um...?"

When he saw that the boy was serious, he scratched his head. "... I guess I can do that?"

* * *

When the guard finally came back, he had the six roses in paw. He pointed to the door behind himself as he handed Todd the flowers, "You have a visitor."

"Okay." He accepted the flowers and watched as Copper let Aceline walk in.

"Aceline." He said, his eyes lighting up when she looked down at him. When she sat down next to him, he handed her the flowers. "Could you do me a huge and give these to Catelin?"

She wrinkled her nose when she took them. "I can? You know she won't forgive you so easily, though."

"I know," he sighed.

She smiled wryly, poking his hand. "If it makes you sleep at night, at least she's trying to."

"Thanks for doing this." He pinched the bridge of his nose for a few seconds before looking away, slightly embarrassed, and continuing. "I'm... um... I'm sorry for that fight. I was really stupid in thinking that you'd always be my partner like that."

Her eyes widened a fraction, and she sat there, stunned. After a few seconds of thinking about it, she shook her head, huffing a chuckle.

"At least you can be grateful that I'm willing to forgive you." She said, relishing in his surprise. "I'll forgive you for that. I'm sorry too."

* * *

 **A/N: More Tortimer! I've felt bad that I haven't really included him. I hope you liked his scene.**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: A chapter dedicated to the girls? In MY fanfiction? It's more likely than you think. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 24: Girls' Day Wisdom**

* * *

Here she was again, at that fountain, only this time, for a different reason. Instead of wondering about her feelings, instead of talking amicably with a boy, here she was, crying over him. Figures.

She glanced down at the roses in her hand. She clutched them so tightly that her knuckles were white.

The very sight of the red reminded her of Todd's favorite sweater, making her anger flare up again.

She grit her teeth, winding back her arm. Her eye caught the ocean, deep and blue beneath her, and she thought of the righteous gratification she could get by chucking the entire bouquet into the water.

Her eyes narrowed and her lip curled into a nasty sneer at the slowly-advancing waves. Her grip tightened again, and she was about to throw it-

But wait.

Her fingers slackened and she slumped against the bench, the drying tears on her cheeks chilling her as a breeze whisked by.

Her vicious glare dropped, and all she could do was stare dejectedly at the crystal droplets from the fountain.

"What am I doing?" She questioned with a heavy sigh.

She turned her head, plucking a perfect orange from a tree close by. She began to peel it with a knife on her person, wondering to herself.

 _"Can I even forgive him?"_ She thought, focusing on cutting off the ends of the peel so that she could unfurl the fruit like a scroll. _"I... I loved him. He lied to me, but I loved him."_

When the sweet tang of the fruit hit her tongue,, she frowned. _"He meant to steal from me, though. You can't ignore that. If he was able to keep the truth away from me so well, can I even trust that his confession was real?"_

She popped another segment of the orange in her mouth. When she bit down, the taste exploded, the citrus kick of orange and the surprising subtle sweetness of strawberries making a shiver go up her spine.

 _"He told me that he had a change of heart... I could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth. Can you fake a look like that?"_

She shook her head fiercely, so much so that her hair flipped over her shoulder. _"No, what am I thinking? He could have just lied about that too and put on the puppy eyes to trick me!"_

She groaned aloud, nearly facepalming with her hand, still sticky with juice. "What's the matter with me?"

"I can't tell you that," an amused Aceline replied from the archway.

Her head snapped around to look at her. She was leaning against one of the poles, one hand on her hip, a humored smile on her face.

"Aceline, hi!" She giggled nervously. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"'S no problem," she shrugged, walking towards the bench. "I came to get you."

"Get me? Where are we going?" The blonde continued to eat the orange as if she hadn't been interrupted, though she spared the older girl a glance or two.

"You and I are gonna have a girls' day." Aceline rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hair, clothes, furniture, the works. Whaddya say?"

She blinked, the last orange slice halfway to her mouth. Then her lips curled upward into an excited grin.

"Sure, why not?" She chirped. "Lemme just throw away the peel and wash my hands."

* * *

After she'd cleaned up, the two went to Main Street to relax. They stopped first at the museum, where they searched through both their reserves of clothes for something cute to wear. Finally, they both found matching sunshine yellow and pale blue dotted dresses in Catelin's stuff. They matched them with the stockings, yellow buckled shoes, and the blue pumps that they'd worn to Club LOL.

The two went next to Shampoodle, where Catelin dared Aceline to color her hair blue. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Aceline stood in front of her with her hair - now a tasteful navy blue - in a party-style bun. Her blue-framed glasses went well with it. Catelin recolored her hair blonde and put it into a high ponytail again.

Of course, Harriet gushed over their new looks, cooing that they were 'totes adorable' and looked 'exactly like twins'. This didn't fail to make Catelin wince and Aceline to avert her eyes awkwardly.

They stopped off at the T&T Emporium last, looking through the furniture on the second floor. When Catelin tried to get Aceline to look up on the third, however, the girl rejected it at first, saying that she'd feel bad. Nevertheless, the mayor managed to get her up the stairs and looking at the newest collection.

Even though the only ended up buying things like a clock and a standing lamp, they were happy.

When they were walking back to town, happy and fufilled from their day off, Aceline decided that it was the best time to speak to her.

She turned her head to look at her. "You know, Todd wasn't lying."

"Mm? About what?" Her eyes flickered downward for a moment, and her smile faded somewhat, but she remained calm.

"You know what I'm talking about." She pushed. "He must've told you about his guilt. He wasn't lying about that, at least."

Catelin didn't seem to be paying attention, pointing towards a bench by the sea. "Look, let's sit over there."

Aceline gave her a good, hard look out of the corner of her eye. The girl's cheeks were pink with the cold, her deep green eyes staring determinedly at the snow at her feet.

She exhaled through her nose, following the younger girl to the bench. She brushed off the snow with her sleeve and sat down, adjusting her skirts around her as she did.

When the two of them sat there, Catelin fiddling with a dead leaf that had brushed against her hair as they walked through the trees, and Aceline with her hands folded in her lap, the once-comfortable silence gave way to awkwardness.

 _"C'mon, I've gotta say something,"_ Aceline thought desperately, restraining her urge to sigh. _"If not now, when again? I don't have much of a timeframe to work with, here."_

Finally, she turned her body to face her, making her pause and drop the leaf in questioning.

"He's been absolutely miserable since he last talked to you," she said, pointedly staring into her eyes.

Grass green met midnight slate, and she shifted in her seat under the woman's gaze.

Finally, she retorted, "Yeah, 'cause he got arrested."

Rolling her eyes, Aceline leaned forward. "He's been asking specifically for you all this time, you know. He desperately wants to fix things with you."

She winced at the words, not given with a cold tone, but still sharp as icicles.

Shame began to bloom in her chest, awful Rafflesias that refused to die, no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise.

Her eyes slowly trailed downward, towards her lap. "... I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing to _me_ for?" Aceline gently chastisized.

"I've been trying to ignore the hurt, but... but I feel so guilty for leaving him there." She looked back up at Aceline, her eyes suspiciously shiny. "Please. What can I do to make this feeling go away?"

She frowned, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "We both know what you have to do."

"Don't make me say it." She clenched her eyes shut in pain, a hand coming up to clench at her chest. "If... if you do, then... I won't have this righteous anger anymore."

The bluenette sighed heavily, shaking her head.

Then, with a wry smile, "Kills, doesn't it?"

"Horribly." Catelin bobbed her head in a 'yes'.

"It's bittersweet," she continued, grabbing the end of her ponytail and twisting it around her fingers. "On one hand, having something to be angry about hurts me badly, but... but then I remember what he's done to me, and suddenly it doesn't hurt so much anymore."

"Believe me, I've been there, sister." Aceline patted her shoulder. "Literally. I've been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt. There have been so many times I've held onto my anger simply because it made the situation hurt less."

The two girls were silent for a few moments.

"... I assume Todd is the same way?" She looked up again.

"Definitely." Aceline's answer was quick, almost as if she knew that question was coming. "He's held onto his grudge against our parents for so long, I doubt he even likes them anymore. He told me once that holding on is way easier than letting go, because then at least he'd feel stronger than he is."

"That's me right now," the mayor said softly, leaning forward so that her head could rest against the girl's shoulder. "At first, yes, I was angry, but over time, I felt that anger dissipate, and thus I tried to convince myself that if I was angry, at least I wouldn't have the time to cry."

Slender, pale fingers smoothed down the hair on her scalp, and Aceline hummed in thought.

"If you're going to tell me that your heart says one thing but your mind says another, I can't really argue with them." She replied. "I know you've probably heard this before, but don't rely so much on what your heart is telling you, because I guarantee that's gonna get you into trouble someday."

Before Catelin could reply, she gently pushed her back and held up her chin, looking into her eyes.

"Instead," she continued, her mouth curving into a smile, "listen to his actions and attitudes. Your heart and logic don't always go hand-in-hand, but if you take both into consideration, it'll become easier to arrive at the right decision."

The blonde frowned, closing her eyes for a moment as she exhaled deeply.

"The most I can do right now is tell you what my brother is feeling," Aceline tried to console. "And right now, I can guarantee you one-hundred-percent that he wants nothing else but to fix what he broke."

"I'm still so... conflicted," Catelin breathed, covering her face with her hands.

"Do what your heart and your logic are telling you."

Dragging her hands down her face, Catelin looked back to her friend and tried to smile. "Thanks for the advice."

Without warning, she enveloped the girl in a tight hug, burying her face in her neck. Aceline froze, stunned, for a second, before hugging back.

"You're the closest person I've had to a sister in, like, my entire life." Catelin mumbled with a smile.

Just as quickly, the hug was over, and Catelin was hopping to her feet, grinning like nothing had ever happened.

"I'll see you around!" She waved goodbye as she began walking off.

Aceline waved back, an identical joyful expression lighting up her face.

"You're welcome... for everything." She whispered in reply.

* * *

 **A/N: A little more love for Ace and Catelin. My favorite duo!**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Hey! We're almost to the end. I hope you enjoy this chapter. (Sorry it's taken me so long to put this up. I'm knee-deep in school stuff and I lost my drive to write this. I promise, this will end before December.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 25: The Ultimatum**

* * *

The calendar was mocking him, of that he was sure.

February 10th, he vaguely remembered the guard telling him. That meant four days to go before Valentine's Day. Two days to go until he was forcibly taken back to his home town to be sentenced.

He heaved a sigh, slumping against his little cot in the corner. For the month he'd been there, it had been kind of fun while it lasted. Sure, he got into a big fight with his sister, but it was all good now. He kind of regretted not doing everything that Catelin had recommended, such as going with her to see the model homes on the hill, or going to Club LOL.

He'd miss the people here, even if all he did was annoy them with his swindling. Heck, even Cherry was a pretty cool person to hang out with, and she seemed like she hated him!

While he sat there, the door opened, and Copper stepped inside. His cold, dark eyes surveyed the boy, not flinching even when he rose his head to stare.

Copper walked into the medium-sized room, unlocking the door to Todd's cell.

Quirking an eyebrow, Todd asked, "Wait, what are you doing?"

The cop didn't answer right away, instead focusing on the lock. When he managed to swing the door open, he replied, "The mayor will be in to explain it to you."

 _"The mayor!"_ Todd, taken aback somewhat, got to his feet.

When the blonde walked inside, she gave him a tiny smile and a wave.

"Todd, hey," she greeted, folding her hands behind her back.

"Cate, what are you doing?" He asked, stepping forward.

"I came to give you some news," she replied. "You won't have to be confined to that cell anymore."

His heart sank. "What?" _"No, no... has she come to tell me off for-"_

Then she smiled. "I was able to use my powers as the town leader to get you free."

He froze, her words slowly sinking in.

His hand twitched once, twice. She came to him, beaming.

"I- Is there a catch?" He whispered.

"Well," she hummed, trying to remember exactly what she'd been told. "I was told that you would have to complete a year of community service, along with paying back every single thing that you've ever extorted. That includes the ring."

He nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes, I can do that." He was hardly able to keep his lips from curving into a grin.

She paused for a moment before opening her arms. "Can... can I...?"

"Hug me," he demanded, and at once she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. He squeezed his eyes shut, the relief making his body practically melt against hers. He couldn't quite recall the last time he'd felt this happy for something.

He felt a lump forming in his throat when she gingerly began to rub circles on his upper back.

"How'd you do it?" He mumbled into her shoulder.

"I'm the mayor, remember?" She laughed gently. "Somehow, I was able to convince them that you had changed your heart and that you were willing to do anything but go to prison."

He laughed, beginning to tremble against her chest. Slowly, his chuckles grew louder, until he was practically crying with every breath he took.

She stood there, holding him. She began to giggle along with him, clenching him tighter.

"Miracle," he was saying. "You've managed a miracle, Cate."

"That I have," she agreed.

He finally let go of her once he had a handle on his emotions, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"I guess there's one thing left that I have to ask." He said. "Would you consider going out with me... for real this time?"

At this, she hesitated. At the hopeful look in his eyes, she nearly gave in, but...

"While you've proven that you've changed your stance on everything, I'm not sure I can trust you just yet." She told him. When he began to droop, she quickly added, "B- But if you promise me - like, really keep a promise with me - that you'll never lie to people and steal again, then... I'd consider it."

"Done," he replied with a smile. "I'll do whatever I can to prove to you that you can trust me."

She huffed out a laugh, reaching out to wipe another tear out of his eyes. "You've already proven to me that I can trust you, silly. If I was sure that you were still lying, I would have let them take you."

He frowned at that, but when she held out her hand to him, he took it.

"C'mon," he said, not sparing a glance at his jail cell, "let's go find Aceline."

* * *

 **A/N: I've mentioned before that I turned this in as a project. (I actually turned in the fanfiction up to this chapter!) I'm pleased to add that it earned me an A. Another fun fact: I was originally going to end this chapter with a kiss. Just a little tidbit. See you later!**

 **(Author is not studying law. Author uses Uno Reverse Card.)**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: We're winding down! First, I want to apologize for taking two whole months to post this. I lost all of the motivation to finish this after school ended, although now that I've graduated I have more time to work on stuff. All I can say is that I know this fanfic will be finished before summer's over. I promise I'll try to write faster, although with family visiting soon I don't know if I'll have all the time in the world.**

* * *

 **Chapter 26: Working Towards a Resolution, the Twelveth Rose**

* * *

"Hey Todd, beautiful day, isn't it? Check it?" Colton greeted the boy cheerfully, giving him a tiny wave.

"Yeah, it's gorgeous." Todd nodded with a tiny smile. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Oh! I have to go to the post office to mail something." Colton pulled out a letter with sloppy handwriting on it.

Then he looked surprised. "That reminds me! It's Valentine's Day, check it. Are you doing anything with the mayor?"

His cheeks flushed pink and he laughed nervously. "Well, I don't know if you'd call it anything _special_..."

"Aww, you two are adorable." Colton ignored his statement and cooed at him, squishing his own cheeks with his hooves.

"I- it's not like that!" Todd insisted. "I was planning on finishing my stuff for today and then doing whatever!"

"Oho? Then what's that 'whatever'?" Colton asked, tilting his head.

"You guys will just have to see."

With a secretive smirk, the human bade Colton farewell and went on.

As he got near to the cherry trees, he spotted Catelin.

"Hey! Cate!" He called, waving her over.

She whirled around, and with a beaming smile, raced to him. "Todd, hi!"

"For you," he began, giving her a pretty white rose. "Fresh from 'Line's garden," he added with a wink.

She giggled, putting it in her hair. "She's not gonna be happy when she figures it out."

"She can learn to deal," he shrugged. "I'll get her some rose seeds for a holiday gift or something."

Catelin laughed, lightly nudging him with her shoulder. "You're insufferable! How does she do it?"

"Somehow, she does," he dramatically sighed, causing her to laugh harder.

"But for real, is she okay with you giving her roses to me?"

"Relax, Cate, I planted these." He gave her a smile. "She told me not to touch the red ones... but she never said anything about the _white_ ones."

He opened the door to The Roost and allowed her to go in first. He shut the door behind himself and followed her to the counter.

They both took a seat at the bar, ignoring a couple of the more cynical villagers sending Todd uncomfortable looks.

They ordered their coffees and sat there, talking.

"Your community service seems like it's going well!" Catelin mentioned, taking a hesitant sip of her brew. "How're you holding up?"

"Pretty well, I guess." He shrugged. "It's nothing that would've done me in before."

"That's good, that's good."

He gulped his down, setting the cup back on the table with a satisfied sigh. "I actually like delivering stuff. I don't know, I guess it's just always been a thing."

"I understand that." She nodded eagerly. "I've always liked organizing things either by name or by number."

Todd chuckled, giving her a joking nudge. "Does this mean I'm getting closer to being forgiven?"

"I don't know, maybe you have a higher chance now." She teased with a wink.

"That's good, because then I can do this." He slipped off the stool and got in front of her, holding his hands out while he got down on his knees. "This seem familiar yet?"

The smile slipped off her face and she looked mildly affronted. "Don't even joke about that, Todd! That was easily one of the worst days of my life!"

"I'm not joking," he replied, shaking his head. "Will you be my girlfriend?" Then, adding as a joking afterthought, "For the third time now, I guess."

She blinked rapidly, wiping her eye on her sleeve. "... Yeah, I'd love to."

He beamed at her, standing up.

"Can I hug you?" She asked.

"Go right ahead."

She embraced him tightly, hiding her face in his shoulder. A couple of the patrons clapped, others looked away at the scene.

* * *

"Are you awake yet?" Isabelle teased him the next day when he came in for work. "You seem a lot more distracted today, I hope you don't mind me saying."

He waved it off with a faint smile. "You should be lucky I'm in early for once."

"That's why!" She laughed. "Honestly, though, congratulations on finally asking her. Poor thing's been in the office twice since yesterday gushing about you."

"It's only been a month!" He protested weakly.

The secretary only giggled at his reaction, teasing him about his red face.

When Aceline walked in, the first thing she did when she saw him was smile slyly, slapping a palm down on the counter to startle him. "So! The lucky guy finally shows up."

"Not you too, Aceline," he groaned, but when she rolled her eyes he smiled at her. "Hey, Isabelle, what's my first assignment?"

"Delivering this to the Nooklings," she replied, handing him a rather heavy package. He nodded, giving them both a 'see you later' on his way out.

As soon as the door closed, Aceline propped herself up on the desk. "That boy... I honestly don't know whether to congratulate him or to say 'it's about time'."

"I know for the mayor, she's been hung up on him for quite a while now." Isabelle sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I still remember her coming in to work a week after you two moved in, all mopey about how much she felt for him and how she wanted to know if she was in love again. Well, guess we know how that turned out."

"Indeed we do." The girl agreed. "She's been in love before?"

"Only once, before I replaced Pelly as the secretary." She nodded. "There was another human living in town way before you two came, and they seemed to have quite a thing going on. But... unfortunately, immediately after she was announced as mayor, he left. Quite suddenly, too. Nobody really knows why he left, but she seemed to really take it to heart."

Aceline hummed in thought. "What a jerk. I'd have given him a piece of my mind if he ever came to visit."

"Yes, well." Isabelle shrugged. "Now we can focus on her and your brother."

"I, for one, am ecstatic they're together, no matter what the others say," The girl nodded in agreement, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yes, definitely." The dog had a cheerful smile on her face as she went through the forms on her desk. "The mayor seems much more cheerful than she's been in quite a while. I think finally having someone to care for is just the thing she needs."

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen Todd this happy in my life." Aceline commented. "Nor have I ever remembered him being so calm about someone touching him. Not in years, anyway."

The secretary nodded rapidly. "Yes. Oh, what a beautiful romance! Young love is so amazing. Her depression has really lessened ever since she got close to him."

Swooning, she sighed and rested her chin in her hands. "Oh, what I would give for something like theirs!"

Aceline shrugged. "As long as the guy isn't interested in the physical part of married life, I think I'd be down for it."

That seemed to startle Isabelle out of her fantasy, and she flinched as if burned, gaping at the human girl. "You- you mean you'd never consider children? Ever?"

"Like I said, as long as I have someone I care for, I don't really care about anything else." She gave a wry grin. "Why else do you think I have the nickname 'Ace'?"

Isabelle grew uncomfortable. "I- I always thought it was because of your name..."

"Nah, not totally." She turned her gaze towards the window. "Let's just say it has a malicious intent."

"... How long have you known for, if you don't mind me asking?" Isabelle finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Thirteen," Aceline replied with a smile. "It's not a big deal unless you decide to blacklist me because of it."

"No, I just- I think it's interesting to have another perspective." The dog now sounded genuinely interested, leaning forward on her elbows. "Would you mind telling me more?"

The girl seemed surprised, but she oblidged, hopping off of the desk and grabbing a chair.

* * *

 **A/N: Please, before anyone accuses me of pandering (because I just so happened to complete this during Pride Month), I've been planning Aceline to be asexual ever since conception of her character. With that said, I hope this gives you a bit more of a perspective about her history with her nickname and why she hates it so much.**

 **I'll see you guys in the next chapter... whenever that'll be posted. Let me know what you thought of this one.**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Hi! It's been a few months, yes, but I got a big burst of creativity. I had to post because, 1) I finally became an adult, and 2) I finally got my permit! So here's the next one. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 27: Resplendence, the Thirteenth Rose**

* * *

That year had been quite a long one for the little town of Phemera.

The twins worked hard to prove themselves a valuable asset to the town. Todd tried his hardest to make Catelin proud and to prove to the more cynical villagers, and to a different extent, the law, that he'd changed his ways and was willing to better himself.

* * *

Ruffling her little brother's hair, Aceline smiled. "I'm really proud of you, y'know. You've come a long way since January."

"Geez, when you say it like that you sound like you're way older," he teased. "Thanks for the cookies, Grandma."

Snorting, she playfully pushed him away. "Oh, is that right? Well then this grandma is gonna give you a whoopin' if you don't go meet up with Catelin for your hot date."

"It's March, how hot do you honestly think this date is gonna get?" He called, giving her a wink over his shoulder. "I'm gonna pick some flowers from the garden!"

"You'd better replace them, you whippersnapper!" Aceline shouted, laughing when she heard him groan in response.

He zipped up his jacket as he stepped out into the cool air of the afternoon. Grabbing a pretty yellow rose from the garden behind their home, he rushed off.

He headed for the fountain, pausing to catch his breath right before he decided to call out. "Cate, I'm here!"

She whipped her head around and beamed at him. "Todd, hi! Glad you made it!"

He allowed her to give him a quick hug before he handed her the rose, "For you," and a wrapped present, "and for you. Happy birthday."

"Aw, you remembered!" She squealed, pulling at one end of the ribbon. The bow pulled apart and she lifted the lid of the box.

"We've been together for a year now, why wouldn't I remember?" He joked, nudging her. "I hope I didn't get the wrong one."

She pulled out a Leaf item, its tag reading 'Full Moon Vanity'.

"Oh wow, the only one I don't have yet!" She breathed. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "This is so rare! How'd you get it?"

He shrugged. "Told 'Line to keep an eye out with me so we could catch it. No big deal."

Her cheeks flushed pink and she smiled wide. "Well, I really appreciate this. Thank you so much."

After disposing of the wrapping, the two began to walk around town.

"You know, ever since you moved here, the town has looked so much better," she commented. "I don't know if I've ever seen the others so happy about the flowers - well, ever since I first moved here, of course."

"Yeah, gardening is kind of a hobby between us." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Since we've never had much money, we've never really been able to explore it, but now that we're here I hope you don't mind us experimenting a bit."

"No, no, no, that's totally fine!" She shook her head emphatically. "I've never really enjoyed planting flowers that much, so I'm happy you two are helping make the town look beautiful!"

He smiled shyly, looking away at a rather vibrantly colored flower. "I personally don't think the town needs anything else to make it shine, but Aceline wants to make it even prettier."

"Speaking of the town, I don't think you've told me your favorite spot yet!" She gasped. "You remember, right? When we sat by the fountain?"

"I remember." He nodded in agreement, humming in thought. "Do you want a pick-up line, or an answer?"

Her eyebrows dipped low into a confused frown for a moment before she laughed. "I wasn't expecting you to ask that. Um... pick-up line? Gimme what you got."

"I would continue to say I don't know about a place, but we both know my favorite place in town is with you." He gave an over-exaggerated wink, smiling when she burst into laughter.

"You're so cute!" She snorted. "Oh my gosh. I wasn't expecting that. Oh my gosh."

He chuckled for a moment before gesturing towards the trees. "But in all seriousness, I've been building on a spot for a while, if you'd like to see it."

"Yes, please!" She beamed at him, hands clasped together on her chest. "I want to know the place that makes you happiest."

"Well, c'mon then." He led her towards a grove of lychee trees. Walking through the pathway he'd made, he came to a spot near the cliff where a garden of pink roses grew in the center of the little circle of fruit trees.

"It's so beautiful," she breathed. "You made this?"

"Planted some extra trees beside the ones already here, at least." He shrugged, sitting down beside one plant. "I noticed how the trees kind of fell into a walkway, so I planted around that."

"Well, I think it looks very nice." She sat beside him, gingerly running her fingers over the soft, satin petals of the nearest bubblegum rose.

He studied her for a while, eyes half-lidded. Then, he nodded once to himself, picking a rose and gently tucking it above her ear.

She stared at him as he worked. When he pulled away, he smiled softly. "There. Now you're even more beautiful."

Her cheeks heated up into a light blush and she covered her face with her hands.

"It really goes well with your dress," he complimented. "I really like the blue."

"Thanks," she replied, finally uncovering her face to fiddle with the rose, "remember, Aceline got it for my birthday last year?"

"I know, doesn't change the way it looks on you." He teased.

"W- well, you're-" she stammered, embarrassed, "- you're really... handsome! In that red shirt!"

"Thanks, I made it myself!" He proudly stated.

She pouted, making him laugh. He leaned over to take the flower, but she leaned back.

"It's my flower now, Todd," she stated firmly, sticking out her tongue at him. "You can't have her!"

* * *

 **A/N: Again, I'm sorry for the hiatus! Hopefully I'll have enough energy to write the last two chapters, but in the meanwhile, I had to post this.**

 **Please tell me about it!**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait! I lost my will to write this, but it's back for a bit! Thankfully, all I have to do is write the next chapter and then post Chapter 30, and we're done! I really hope you enjoy this!**

* * *

 **Chapter 28: Redamancy**

* * *

It was a hot day in late May when Aceline took the other two out on the island for a day full of tours.

"C'mon, c'mon, it's almost noon!" Aceline called out from her spot on the boat. "Cate, you look fine, don't worry!"

The couple made their way into the boat, still slowly talking. Catelin bursted into laughter at something Todd had whispered into her ear, and when his sister arched an eyebrow at him, he simply shook his head with an amused smile and a mouthed, 'inside joke'.

The three of them spent most of the afternoon on the island, doing tours, catching bugs, and playing with Layla.

Aceline and Catelin both observed Todd sitting with the little girl, smiling and making her giggle. Both girls awed at this, and with an embarrassed blush, Todd stood up and said they had to get back to town.

* * *

"Well, that was a fun trip, but if you don't mind, Aceline, I've gotta take Cate somewhere." He said, pointedly ignoring the girl's big grin at him.

"You've got this, little brother," she crowed from behind the two of them. "Just know that when you finally get hitched, that I was the one who pushed you to do it!"

Catelin giggled a bit nervously and he simply rolled his eyes at the noirette.

"Sisters can be such a hassle," he groaned as soon as Aceline was out of earshot. "You're so lucky that you're an only child."

"I don't know about that," the blonde replied lightly, shrugging her shoulders. "When I was a kid, I would've died for a younger sister to fawn over. Then again, my parents were pretty negligent with me... if I had a younger sister that they constantly doted over, I would've probably grown up hating her."

Todd didn't say anything more about it, merely picking a fruit from a low-hanging branch as they passed a tree and handing it to her to eat.

"Thanks!" She chirped, nibbling on it. She wiped away the sweet pear juice that dribbled down her chin, licking it from her hand. When she was done with the fruit, she got a napkin from her pocket and wiped away the sticky remains, dropping it into a trash bin as they passed.

Finally, when they got to the grove of trees that crowded Todd's spot, she leaned in closer as the path narrowed. His lips twitched, but he kept his face passive until they reached the rose garden.

Her eyebrows scrunched together when she found a small patch of white cosmos among them. "When did you plant these?"

"A little while ago," he shrugged loosely. "I knew they were your favorite flower. Since we spend so much time here, I decided they deserved a place here."

Her eyes widened a fraction for a second, but then the biggest smile spread across her face and she clasped her hands together. " _Todd_!"

His cheeks heated up, and he cleared his throat, sitting in the midst of the flowers with her. "It's not that big of a deal," he mumbled in embarrassment as she hugged his arm.

"It's a big deal to me," she replied, her voice growing soft. "Nobody else has ever... done something like this for me. My own parents didn't pay enough attention to me to even remember what my favorite color was, much less what flowers I like. And... and Cody... well, I always got the feeling that Cody wasn't as invested in our friendship as I was. He certainly never planted my favorite flowers."

He gingerly picked one, admiring its soft white petals for a moment before handing it to her. "Of course I'd remember. I write down everything that you tell me about yourself. You've been so kind to me, that I felt like I had to repay you in some way. The time spent here for the past year has been amazing... even when I almost got sent back to my hometown." He chuckled a little self-consciously at the last bit.

Before she could open her mouth to respond, he continued. "I really wasn't planning to do this so soon, but with the other villagers and Aceline, I feel like if I don't now, I won't ever have another opportunity to do this."

"Do what?" She asked in confusion as he got up off of the grass.

When he got down on one knee beside her, she gasped, covering her gaping mouth with her hands. She suddenly had tears springing to her eyes, and when he smiled softly at her, she let out a small whimper.

"Don't cry yet," he gently admonished, pulling out a small flower from behind his back. "You're one of the first to actually fight for me, well, besides my sister, but we're not going there right now. You wanna... dunno, get married?"

She brushed her tears away and began to laugh, but all that did was make more moisture appear.

"Yes!" She finally exclaimed, wrapping her arms around herself for a second. "A- are we there yet? Can I hug you?"

He thought about it for a moment, but at her pleading eyes he nodded. "Go ahead. We're there."

Immediately, she tackled him to the ground, hiding her face in the collar of his shirt as she simultaneously shook with laughter and cried.

"I don't think you fully get how happy I am," she sniffled, pausing to wipe her nose on her sleeve. "I've loved you for as long as I can remember."

He smiled softly, sitting up with her. He gingerly helped her up onto her knees again.

"When I first found this place," he started, gesturing to the lychee trees, "I was looking for a good place to come to after fights with Aceline. I spent a few days here, and when I realized how calm it made me, then I started to plant trees around so that I could truly have a quiet little spot to myself. But the more time I spent here, the more I came to understand just what I felt for you. The day I saw white cosmos seeds at the gardening store, that's when I realized that I wanted something more with you."

"That's... so romantic," she sighed. She gently took the ring from him and admired the cute little white flower and the careful, yet complicated loop he'd made with its stem. She slipped it onto her ring finger and looked up at him with adoring eyes. "When should we do it? Obviously, we can't make it too soon, but we also don't want it to be too far-off in the future..."

"I was actually thinking we could do it on the day of the Summer Solstice," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

She mulled it over for a few moments, absentmindedly fiddling with her sleeve. Then she looked up, a big grin on her face. "It's perfect. We'll need to go to the courthouse in the next town over to get a marriage license, and then we can have the actual wedding in June."

She hopped to her feet, careful of the flowers, and reached out to help him up and hug him again. He allowed it, and she smiled against his collarbone.

"I can't believe I'm getting married," she whispered into his skin. When she let go and looked up into his face, she continued, "I'll make the preparations with Isabelle. C'mon, let's go tell Aceline!"

* * *

 **A/N: Once again, I'm so sorry for the pause! I'll try to get out the last two chapters as soon as I can.**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: It's here, it's finally here! The final chapter of the main story! I'm so sorry that it took me more than a year to finish this. I have to admit, this was a fun ride!**

* * *

 **Chapter 29: An Epilogue**

* * *

When Isabelle heard of Catelin's engagement, the dog promptly fainted when she learned the girl was serious.

When she awoke later, surrounded by the concerned mayor and the twins, she apologized for the unprofessional conduct and excitedly congratulated them both. She was a large help in the process, pulling some of the strings necessary for the blonde to be able to marry the ex-criminal. While the clerk was a bit skeptical, she eventually allowed them both to sign, and on the day of June fifth, only four days later, Todd and Catelin were legally married.

The day of the actual wedding was, thankfully, a sunny one. It was hot enough to be slightly uncomfortable, but not hot enough for everyone to be miserable, and thus the wedding party and villagers met in front of the mayoral tree, which was fittingly blooming with beautiful bright yellow flowers.

Even the more stubborn villagers came to witness the celebration. Many had tears in their eyes when the two recited their vows (Catelin was all but weeping as she said her piece, and if you listened you could hear some emotional sniffling from more of the tender-hearted animals).

When Isabelle pronounced them husband and wife, Todd reached out and cupped her cheek, pressing a kiss to her lips. The villagers started to clap, and as they walked down the aisle away from the tree, they stood up and started to cheer.

After the area had been cleaned up, everyone retreated to Club LOL for the afterparty.

Aceline, who'd been the maid-of-honor, found the happy couple by the snack table.

"Hey, congrats, you two," she greeted with a big smile. "Can I expect Todd to be moving out any time soon?"

Catelin started laughing, and although Todd made an offended face, he started chuckling too.

"Don't you worry, I've already planned for that." She winked at her. "Ever since his birthday, I've made a spare spot for him just in case. Can I expect that space to be filled now?"

He gaped. "So that's what that extra bed was for! Shoot, Cate, I always thought that was just to show off your new bed or something! Of course I'll move in!"

Aceline, now noticing the conversation shift, fiddled with her glasses awkwardly. She looked around and noticed that Ankha was standing off by herself with a glass of punch, so she walked over to strike up a conversation.

Catelin watched her go out of the corner of her eye, and she frowned. "I feel so awful that Aceline doesn't have anyone," she admitted with a sigh. "I don't want to make her envious with our relationship..."

"Nah, don't worry, she's fine." Todd shrugged. "Ace's been pretty vocal with the fact that she doesn't really consider relationships a high priority. She's always said that when she finds the right guy, she might consider settling down, but only if he's okay with not having kids."

"That... actually makes a lot of sense," the blonde nodded in understanding. "She's always seemed a bit standoffish with Layla, but I've always just thought she's uncomfortable with children."

"Yeah, nah, she really doesn't want 'em. Doesn't want a physical relationship, either." Todd frowned, rubbing his arm. "Part of me thinks that it's because of how much of a brat I was when I was little, but she still insists that I had nothing to do with it."

He sighed. "Anyways, I didn't wanna bring it up too soon to make you freak out or anything, but I got a letter this morning from someone."

"It wasn't anything bad, was it?" She asked, concerned.

"No, no, it just said 'congrats on your happy marriage' or something cheesy like that." He wrinkled his nose. "That, and that we'd be getting a visitor when we get back from the honeymoon, about a week or so from now."

"That's... really weird," Cate admitted, biting her lip. "I got a letter too, but it was from Cody."

"Cody?" Todd bristled at this, clenching his fists. "What does he want?"

"Nothing, just the same thing that your letter said." She shook her head with a small sigh. "His letter said that he wanted to come for a visit to see how the town's held up, so that's something, I guess."

"So wait. After years away, after having left without an explanation, he suddenly wants to come back when you've finally started to be happy again?" He stared at her in disbelief. "I don't even really know the guy and I already don't like him."

"He just had someplace else to be," Catelin defended weakly. "Anyways, it'd be nice to see him again and hear about how he's been."

Todd simply sighed. "Well, I guess it'd be okay for him to stay..." he mumbled, "... and meet Ace."

"Yeah." Then a sudden thought struck her. "You know, not to play matchmaker or anything, but back when I was new to Phemera, there were rumors around town that Cody was asexual. Like, very strictly against physical romance. Perhaps..."

"What? Oh, no no no no, we are not trying to set him up with my sister." Todd shook his head violently, frowning at her.

"Not set him up with her, just... introduce them." She coaxed. "Maybe he'd consider moving back to town and having a housemate?"

"Why do you want him back here so bad?" Todd finally asked, training a suspicious eye on her. "Are you still in love with him or something?"

"No." She was firm in that single word, the look in her eyes something he hadn't seen before. Her eyes were hard blue marbles for a split-second, before they were back to their warm sky-blue color. "I have you. Why would I ever want Cody?"

Todd sighed once more. "Alright, you got me. Fine. So we introduce them. Who's to say they actually like each other?"

"If I know your sister, then I think she'd welcome another human here." She clasped her hands together, beaming. "I mean c'mon, it's bound to get a little boring with the only other humans here being in a relationship. Not to mention that one of those is her twin brother."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but after a few moments of contemplation, he agreed in defeat. "You've... got a good point."

"Great!" She giggled. "Besides, Cody isn't that bad. He's a bit standoffish, but he's real nice when you get to know him."

It was at this point in the conversation that Aceline walked up, presumably to get another cupcake.

"Aceline!" Catelin greeted. "You know how a boy I used to know moved away before you got here?"

"Yeah, why?" The bluenette paused in taking a bite of the cupcake, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, he sent me a letter today, and he's going to be visiting when we get back from New Felicity." Her eyes sparkled, her hands clasped together. "I was thinking we could introduce you two! It'd be nice to meet someone besides us, wouldn't it?"

"I... guess it would?" Poor Aceline was so confused, she could only stare at the giddy blonde. "Where would he stay while visiting? Is he even staying long?"

"He'd probably stay with you, 'Line," Todd chimed in, looking unhappily at the floor. "Would you be okay with that?"

"I guess so," the bluenette replied. "I mean, I'll still have your bed and stuff set up in case you wanna come over. Wouldn't hurt."

"Excellent!" Catelin exclaimed, throwing her arms around the girl in a hug. Aceline nonchalantly took a bite of her cupcake as Todd sighed, shaking his head amusedly at the blonde's enthusiasm. "Again, I hate to leave you in charge while we're gone like this, but you're the only one besides Isabelle that I trust. Plus, I'm excited for you to meet Cody!"

"Yeah, you don't have to worry." Aceline scraped off some frosting from her mouth with her finger, and then licked it off. "If I can handle Todd, I can handle anything. I have to admit, I'm curious about him, but a friend of yours is a friend of mine. Just make sure you enjoy your vacation, alright?"

"Don't worry, we will." Todd met Catelin's eye, and he smiled, reaching out to take her hand. The ring - a real one - shone on her left hand.

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 **A/N: And the main story is finally done! Thank you for sticking with me through this, especially since this is my first post!**

 **The last chapter will be out later, and so will the bonus surprise!**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: The extra information chapter! Here are some sneak peeks about the characters and their backgrounds. Again, thank you guys so much for sticking with this story.**

 **SIDE NOTE! I have a dA. If you go to BokuNoFukui, I'll have one more present for you... colored character illustrations!**

* * *

 **Chapter 30: Addendum**

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 _Characters:_

 _Aceline_ : The noble older twin of Todd, and somewhat of a cynic at the same time. She detests Todd's actions of stealing from people and trying to con Mayor Catelin. She doesn't stop him, partly to see what happens and partly to get revenge on him for making him own up to his lying and deceit from their past. Mostly, she wants him to learn that making someone fall in love with you just to get something of theirs is wrong, and she wants him to feel how his previous victims had when he stole various things (the biggest one, and the one that led to him having an arrest warrant being a $1.4 million engagement ring) behind their backs. She does like Mayor Catelin, though sometimes her enthusiasm for life annoys her. She gets along easily with their animal neighbors and doesn't cause much trouble, and she is the one who pays most of their mortgages. She's actually asexual, something that both got her teased and caused her hated nickname, Ace. She is symbolized with the color blue.

 _BIRTHDAY_ : January 19th.

 _SIGN_ : Capricorn

Pronounced "Ace-ah-lean"

 _Todd_ : The cunning younger twin of Aceline who will do whatever he can to get what he wants. Although he can be cold and malicious towards people he intends to scam, he bears no ill will towards his sister, and only teases her for fun. He doesn't really like physical touch. He is extremely lazy and will do just about anything to get out of working, much to Aceline's annoyance. He hates having to chip in to pay mortgage, although he does like to go furniture shopping. Surprisingly, however, he is excellent at gambling, though with the lack of gambling sites in Phemera he resorts to tricking the other villagers and taking their money or possessions. He at first sees nothing wrong with tricking Mayor Catelin in order to gain access to her millions in the bank. As his time in town goes on, however, Catelin's genuine interest and affection for him makes him get second thoughts, and eventually he begs her forgiveness. He seems genuinely happy that she eventually chooses to forgive him and he all but gives up his laziness and works hard to both earn back her trust and to help Aceline with the bills. He is symbolized with the color red.

 _BIRTHDAY_ : January 20th.

 _SIGN_ : Aquarius

 _Mayor Catelin_ : The sweet, empathetic mayor who can be a coward and a crybaby when cornered or hurt. She loves each and every villager that lives in her town and does whatever she can to better their lives. Since living in the town for about five years, she has amassed about a billion bells (999,999,999 to be exact) in her bank account and even more scattered around her properties. She doesn't care about money and often donates it to public works projects. She does love shopping and visits Gracie often, spending quite a bit of it on rare furniture. She never misses a birthday and always gives someone their favorite item. Secretly, however, she is insecure and often wonders about how everyone feels about her. She worries about whether or not she annoys her villagers and, as a result, goes out of her way to assure herself that they really like her. Due to being ignored as a child, she craves validation from others and always wants people to notice her, but at the same time she doesn't want to come across as selfish. She originally moved to Phemera to get a new start to her life, one without her neglectful and insensitive family. She really does love Todd, and although deeply hurt by his initial selfish need of her money, she tries to squelch her negative feelings by forgiving him if he could prove to her that he cared about others other than himself. Eventually, she agrees to marry him, with the request that he never try to trick anyone again. She is symbolized with the color yellow.

 _BIRTHDAY_ : March 13th.

 _SIGN_ : Pisces

Pronounced the same as "Kaitlyn"

 _Cody_ : A male human villager who lived in Phemera back when Tortimer was mayor. He was the one who helped Catelin through her depression both times in the past, and she admits she had a tiny crush on him at one point. She claims that he loved purple roses and gardening in general. He taught her all he knew about cross-pollinating flowers. When Tortimer retired from being mayor and passed the position down to Catelin, he moved out suddenly, leaving her only a letter with some money. Nobody knows where he is now, though several unconfirmed reports of visiting ex-villagers claim that he's happily living in New Felicity. For some reason, he's told Catelin that he's coming to visit Phemera... He is symbolized with the color green.

 _BIRTHDAY_ : May 1

 _SIGN_ : Taurus

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 **A/N: Who knows? Maybe Book 2 is going to come soon...**


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